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LINDSAY   AND   BLAKISTOH 

PUBLISH 

A  MANUAL  OF  SACRED  HISTORY; 

OR, 
A  GUIDE  TO  THE  UNDERSTANDING 

®f  i\t  gibing  flini  0f  Snlbati^n 

ACCORDING  TO  ITS  HISTORICAL  DEVELOPMENT. 
BV 

JOHN  HENRY  KURTZ,  D.D., 

PROFESSOR    OF    CIIUUCH    HISTORY   IN   THE    UNIVERSITY   OF   DORPAT,    KW. 

TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  SIXTH  GERMAN  EDITION, 

BY 

CHARLES  F.  SCHAEFFER,  D.D., 

OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS. 

"A  very  comprehensive,  accurate,  and  methodical  digest  of  the  Sacred  Hia- 
Itrfy  —  done  with  genuine  thoroughness  and  scholarship.  There  is  nothing 
ato.*ng  our  manuals  of  Biblical  History  that  corresponds  with  this.  It  is  sim- 
ple in  style,  and  orthodox  in  sentiment." — N.  Y.  Evangelist. 

"The  Observations  (introduced  by  the  author)  are  replete  with  the  results 
of  extensive  research — meeting  objections  and  cavils,  solving  difficulties,  ex- 
plaining obscure  passages,  reconciling  apparent  discrepancies,  pointing  out 
connections,  exposing  and  rectifying  errors,  unfolding  the  nature  and  design 
of  sacred  institutions  and  ordinances,  and  showing  the  relation  of  events,  per- 
sons, institutions  and  prophecies,  to  the  great  central  fact  and  theme  of  Scrip- 
ture, man's  redemption  through  the  incarnate  Son."  —  Evangelical  ^et?tew, 
April,  1855. 

"  This  is  the  best  book  of  the  kind  we  have  ever  examined,  and  one  of  the 
best  translations  from  German  into  English  we  have  ever  seen.  The  author 
makes  no  parade  of  learning  in  his  book,  but  his  exegetical  statements  are 
evidently  founded  on  the  most  careful,  thorough,  and  extensive  study,  and  can 
generally  be  relied  upon  as  among  the  best  results,  the  most  surely  ascertained 
conclusions  of  modern  philological  investigation.  We  by  no  means  hold  our- 
Belved  responsible  for  every  sentiment  in  the  book,  but  we  cordially  recommend 
*t  to  every  minister,  to  every  Sunday  school  teacher,  to  every  parent,  and  to 
every  intelligent  layman,  as  a  safe  and  exceedingly  instructive  guide,  through 
the  entire  Bible  history,  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New.  It  is  a  book  which 
actually  accomplishes  more  than  its  title  promises,"  Ac.  «fec. — {Andover)  Bibli- 
»theea  Sa&ra,  Ajjril,  1865. 


MnWm  hii  tljB  ^^im  nf  JxmlfB  hml  Jibhxri, 

PTJBLISHED    BY    LINDSAY    AND    BLAIQSTON,    PHILADELPHIA. 

Dr.  J.  H.  Kurtz's  Manual  of  Sacred  History  is  the  production  of  a  ver^ 
able  and  pious  divine  of  our  church  in  Europe.  The  author  is  particularly 
distinguished  for  his  learning,  his  orthodoxy,  his  liberality,  his  piety,  and  hia 
originality.  He  writes  with  great  clearness  and  condensation,  and  presents  ia 
a  brief  compass  a  large  amount  of  matter.  His  various  works,  and  particularly 
his  HJistories,  have  received  the  highest  endorsement  abroad  in  their  popularity 
and  mu'ltiplied  editions,  and  are  commended  in  the  strongest  terms  by  the  most 
eminent  divines.  Guericke,  Bruno  Lindner,  and  Eudelbach,  laud  his  Histo- 
ries in  the  strongest  terms,  and  the  Evangelical  Review,*  in  the  United  States, 
has  furnished  evidence  of  his  great  merits  from  authentic  sources.  The  admi- 
rable Manual  of  Sacred  History,  translated  by  Dr.  Sehaeffer,  (and,  having  ex- 
amined some  parts  of  the  translation,  we  may  say  well  translated,)  will  consti- 
tute a  rich  contribution  to  our  theological  literature.  Having  encouraged  the 
translator  to  undertake  the  work,  we  are  the  more  free  to  express  our  high 
opinion  of  it,  and  the  fidelity  with  which  it  has  been  executed.  We  hope  this 
will  be  the  forerunner  of  other  translations  of  works  of  the  author. 

C.  P.  KRAUTH, 
Professor  of  Sac.  Thil.  Church  Hist,  and  Past.  Theol..  Gettysburg,  Pa. 

Sept.  16,  1854. 

The  Sacred  Ilistorij  of  Dr.  J.  H.  Kurtz,  does  not  belong  to  the  ordinary  clasa 
of  historic  Manuals,  with  which  the  literature  of  Germany  abounds.  On  the 
contrary,  after  considerable  acquaintance  with  it,  we  hesitate  not  to  pronounce 
it  a  production  of  very  superior  merit  in  its  department,  possessed  of  high  lite- 
rary and  theological  excellence.  Its  style  is  pure  and  perspicuous,  its  divisions 
are  natural  and  appropriate,  and  the  grouping  of  events  felicitous  and  impres- 
Bive.  Without  assenting  to  every  sentiment  of  the  author,  we  cordially  recom- 
mend his  work  to  the  patronage  of  the  Christian  public,  and  consider  Dr 
SchaefFer  as  entitled  to  the  gratitude  of  the  church,  for  presenting  this  Manua/ 
to  the  English  public  in  so  accurate  aud  excellent  a  translation. 

S.  S.  SCHMUCKER, 

Professor  of  Didactic,  Polemic  and  Homiletic  Theology,  in  Theol.  Sem.  of  Gettysburg. 

Sept.  ir,  1854.  

I  know  of  no  work  in  the  English  or  German  language  which  gives,  in  sf 

ehort  a  compass,  so  full  and  clear  an  account  of  the  gradual  development  of 

the  divine  plan  of  salvation,  from  the  fall  of  man  to  the  resurrection  of  Christ 

and  the  founding  of  the  apostolic  church,  and  which  is,  at  the  same  time,  so 

sound  in  sentiment,  so  evangelical  in  tone,  and,  without  being  superficial,  so 

well  adapted  for  popular  use,  as  the  "Manual  of  Sacred  History,"  by  Dr.  J. 

H,  Kurtz,     The  translation  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  F.  Sehaeffer  seems  to  me, 

-rs  fiir  as  I  have  examined  it,  to  do  full  justice  to  the  German  original,  as  well 

as  to  the  English  idiom.  PHILIP  SCllAFP, 

Prof,  of  Ch.  Hist.,  Ac. 
Uercerahurg,  Pa.,  Jan.  31,  1855. 

*  July,  1S53,  p.  138. 


S!n\im  bq  tjir  ^km  nf  Sinrtfs  Inrrrit  InMorii, 

PXTBLISHED    BY    LINDSAY   AND    BLAKISTON,    PHILADELPHIA. 


''This  volume  deserves  to  be  in  every  family;  all  may  read  and  study  it 
with  profit.  It  is  well  adapted  for  schools  and  seminaries  of  learning  and  the- 
ology. -••'  *  "We  are  pleased  to  learn  that  arrangements  have  been  already  made 
for  its  immediate  introduction  into  Esther  Female  Institute  and  Capital  Uni- 
versity. We  know  of  no  work  in  any  language,  in  all  the  bounds  of  sacred 
literature,  calculated  to  exert  a  more  wholesome  and  beneficial  influence  in 
the  cause  of  Christ,  than  this  work." — Lutheran  Standard,  [Columbus,  0.)  of 
Jan.  26,  1855. 

«*  *  •*  The  present  volume  treats  of  the  subject  of  Sacred  History  on  a 
novel  plan.  It  furnishes  a  suggestive  comment  on  the  incidents  recorded  in 
the  Bible,  considered  as  illustrations  of  the  divine  purpose  in  the  salvation  of 
man.  The  style  is  clear,  compact,  and  forcible,  presenting  a  mass  of  weighty 
thoughts,  in  simple  and  appropriate  language."— i\''.  Y.  Tribune,  of  Jan.  5,  1865. 

«  *  *  An  important  addition  to  the  line  of  text-booka.  The  plan  of  the 
work  is  as  novel  as  it  is  happy.  *  •••  *  Like  all  other  of  the  recent  German 
theological  and  metaphysical  works,  the  analytical  arrangement  is  exquisitely 
delicate  and  minute,  perhaps  too  much  so;  and  the  amount  of  valuable  histo- 
rical material  as  well  as  of  doctrinal  exposition  it  contains,  bears  a  proportion 
to  the  amount  of  space  which  those  who  are  accustomed  to  our  own  looser 
method  of  composition  may  well  welcome." — Episcopal  Hecorder. 


*'The  arrangement  is  admirable,  the  explanatory  remarks  are  instructive, 
and  the  whole  work  one  of  marked  ability."  *  *  — Baltimore  [Baptist)  True 
Union. 


"All  classes  of  readers  may  study  it  with  advantage." — iV.  Y.  Commercial. 

"  An  admirable  volume.  Its  literary  and  theological  merits  are  of  a  high 
order,  and  entitle  it  to  a  wide  circulation  among  the  lovers  of  a  religious  lite- 
rature.     The  translator  has  faithfully  executed  his  task." — Christian  Chronicle. 


"It  is  a  work  of  great  value  as  a  text-book  for  Bible  classes  and  schools,  and 
which  may  be  made  extensively  useful  in  a  family." — [Boston)  Daily  Evening 
Traveller. 

"We  h«Lve  perused  this  volume  with  great  satisfaction.  It  is  a  succinct  yet 
comprehensive  sacred  history,  narrated  in  a  style  of  great  purity  and  attractive- 
ness ;  and  though  its  subject  is  ancient,  and  hundreds  of  volumes  have  been 
written  upon  it,  yet  the  book  is  as  full  of  freshness  and  charm  as  if  it  were  a 
romance." — New  York  Observer,  of  April  19, 1855. 


PUBLISHED    BY    LINDSAY    AND    BLAKISTON,    PHILADELPHIA. 


«  5:-r  «  *  It  would  seem  that  the  author  of  this  work  is  one  of  that  class  of 
individuals  on  -whom  God  has  bestowed  ten  talents.  *  *  *  The  author  is  a 
methodical  thinker ;  ho  narrates  in  the  most  beautiful  language  and  in  great 
clearness,  though  in  a  condensed  form.  •••-  *  *  The  translator  ha.s  placed  la 
the  sacred  historical  library  a  work  of  rare  merit." — JEaston  Whig,  of  Jan, 
1.7,  1855. 


"The  author's  remarkable  genius  and  vast  attainments  hare  already  given 
him  a  place  among  the  greatest  lights  in  theology  and  history  on  the  continent 
of  Europe.  The  present  work  *  *"  *  requires  to  be  thoroughly  examined  in 
order  to  a  full  appreciation  of  its  highly  evangelical  type,  of  its  lucid  arrange- 
ment, of  its  felicitous  selection  of  historical  events,  of  the  harmony  of  the  va- 
rious parts,  and  the  bearing  of  the  whole  upon  one  glorious  consummation.  *  * 
There  are  few  minds,  if  any,  that  have  thought  so  extensively  or  so  profoundly 
on  the  subjects  of  which  it  treats,  that  they  may  not  be  instructed  by  it.  Dr. 
Schaeffer  has  performed  his  work  as  translator  in  a  manner  that  fully  satisfies 
those  who  are  most  competent  to  judge  of  the  merits  of  the  translation." — 
Albany  Argus,  of  Jan.  24,  1855. 


*<We  cannot  but  regard  this  work  as  a  valuable  aid  to  our  own  students  an« 
instructors,  from  its  clear  and  pregnant  summary  of  facts,  its  lively  and  original 
suggestions,  and  its  constant  exhibition  of  unity  in  all  God's  plans  and  dispen- 
sations, of  Trhich  even  the  most  pious  and  attentive  readers  of  the  Bible  are  too 
much  accustomed  to  lose  sight. 

"  This  book  is,  according  to  the  Lutheran  standard,  thoroughly  orthodox  in 
matters  of  doctrine,  and  is  more  thoroughly  religious  in  spirit  than  any  similar 
German  work  with  which  we  are  acquainted. 

"The  English  translation  is,  in  our  opinion,  highly  creditable  to  its  author; 
not  only  accurate,  so  far  as  we  have  yet  had  time  to  judge  it,  but  less  disfigured 
by  undue  adherence  to  German  idiom,  by  awkward  stiffness,  and  by  weak  ver- 
bosity, than  any  version  we  have  recently  examined." — Biblical  Repertory  and 
Princeton  Review,  of  Jan.  1855. 


"It  is  a  work  of  great  value,  not  only  on  account  of  its  literary  excellence, 
and  the  profound  theological  knowledge  displayed  in  it,  but  especially  as  sup- 
plying a  great  want  in  a  clear,  simple,  and  thorough  explanation  of  all  the 
difficult  points  and  obscure  questions  both  as  to  doctrine  and  ecclesiasticnl 
polity  in  the  Bible. 

"All  who  are  desirous  of  a  thorough  understanding  of  Bible  history  sboulJ 
possess  themselves  of  this  learned  and  interesting  work." — Eaetonian,  of  Jan. 
27,  1855. 

2 


THE 


BIBLE   AND   ASTRONOMY; 


dE^^psitinu  ^f  Wit  §iWial  (!;00inri0Sit, 


RELATIONS  TO  NATURAL  SCIENCE, 


JOHI^  he:n'ey  kfetz,  d.d., 

PROFESSOR  OF   CHURCH   HISTORY   IX   THE    UNIVERSITY   OF  DORPAT, 
AUTHOR  OF   "  MANUAL  OF   SACRED  HISTORY,"  ETC. 


FROM  THE  THIRD  AND  IMPROVED  GERMAN  EDITION 
BY 

T.    D.    SIMOIs^TON. 


PHILADELPHIA : 
LINDSAY    &    BLAKISTON. 

1857. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1857,  by 

LINDSAY  &  BLAKISTON, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Eastern 

District  of  Tennsylvania. 

STEKEOTTPED   BY   J.  FAGAN PRINTED  BY   C.  SHERMAN   &   SON. 


TKANSLATOR'S    PREFACE 


The  work  here  presented  to  the  public  in 
English  dress,  first  appeared  some  fifteen  years 
ago,  in  the  form  of  a  quite  small  volume.  Meet- 
ing with  a  favorable  reception,  both  from  its  vi- 
gorous treatment  of  the  vital  questions  which 
called  it  forth,  and  from  a  native  interest  belong- 
ing to  the  higher  themes  upon  which  it  touches 
—  an  interest  to  which  the  human  mind  is  ever 
alive  —  the  author  was  twice  led  to  enlarge  and 
improve  the  treatise,  until  in  the  third  edition  it 
has  reached  its  present  size. 

In  the  work  of  transLation  I  have  endeavored 

fairly  and  faithfully  to  present  the  sentiments 

and  views  of  the   author,  without  omission  or 

accommodation  —  all     responsibility    for    their 

character  of  course  resting  with  himself.     The 

polemical  cast  of  some  portions  of  the  work,  par- 

(iii) 


IV  TRANSLATORS    PREFACE. 

ticularly  of  the  notes,  will  be  accounted  for  by 
the  circumstance  that  the  author  in  this  edition 
takes  occasion  to  reply  to  numerous  objections 
urged  against  his  views  as  presented  in  former 
editions  of  the  work.  Keeping  in  mind  the  re- 
mark of  the  author,  that  "we  by  no  means 
design  to  give  instruction  in  regard  to  matters  of 
science  in  the  present  volume,"  and  also  the  ob- 
vious fact,  that  general  and  established  principles, 
rather  than  more  rapidly  accumulating  indi- 
vidual facts,  are  wanted  for  the  discussion  before 
us,  I  have  refrained  from  attempting  much  addi- 
tion to  the  scientific  portions  of  the  work.  A  few 
facts  of  recent  discovery  in  the  sphere  of  Astro- 
nomy, evidently  calling  for  mention,  as  well  as 
some  results  of  much  interest,  and  serving  to 
carry  out  more  fully  the  design  of  the  author  in 
placing  together,  in  a  general  way,  such  facts  and 
views  as  may  present  to  the  mind  with  sufficient 
distinctness,  the  astronomical  theory  of  the 
world, — a  few  such  matters  have  been  introduced 
in  the  form  of  unpretending  notes  and  additions 
in  the  fifth  chapter,  whilst  an  occasional  note 
has  been  added  here  and  there  throughout  the 
work  at  large. 


TRANSLATORS    PREFACE.  V 

It  may  be  well  to  state  that  a  short  treatise 
upon  Geology  and  the  Bible,  together  with  seve- 
ral appendices  of  kindred  matter,  is  to  be  found 
in  the  volume  from  w^hich  I  translate,  but  which 
in  no  measure  affect  the  unity  and  completeness 
of  the  work  here  presented.  As  the  references 
to  authorities  are  almost  universally  to  German 
w^orks,  the  indications  of  page,  volume,  &c.,  refer 
to  the  original,  though  translations  of  the  works 
may  have  appeared  in  this  country,  except  it  be 
otherwise  distinctly  stated. 

T.  D.  S. 

Hakrisburg,  May  1st,  1857. 


AUTHOR'S    PREFACE 


TO 


THE    THIRD    EDITIOJ^ 


The  present  or  third  edition  of  this  work  has 
assumed  a  new  form  in  many  respects,  both  in 
its  theological  and  scientific  portions.  Whilst  in 
respect  to  Astronomy  I  have  found  it  necessary 
only  to  add  or  incorporate  the  results  due  to  the 
rapid  progress  of  this  science,  I  have  been  com- 
pelled, on  the  other  hand,  to  wholly  recast  many 
sections  of  the  work  which  more  particularly  in- 
volve questions  of  theology.  Since  the  preceding 
edition  was  given  to  the  public,  I  have  become 
conscious  of  the  erroneousness  and  inadmissibility 
of  several  fundamental  views  as  therein  promul- 
gated, materially  affecting  the  whole  cas-t  of  the 

(vii) 


VIU  AUTHOR    S     rREFACE. 

work,  which  with  their  far-reaching  consequences 
must  now  be  avoided.  I  may  mention  in  this 
connection,  particuLarly,  the  material  change  in 
my  apprehension  of  the  Hexsemeron,  and  the  no 
less  important  alteration  in  my  view  of  the  In- 
carnation, which  I  now,  in  harmony  with  the  old 
divines  of  our  Church,  acknowledge  to  have  been 
conditioned  alone  by  the  sin  of  man.  Besides,  I 
have  felt  myself  called  upon  to  defend  my  views 
against  the  attacks  of  several  recent  writers,  who 
have  not  only  referred  to  my  work,  but  also  ear- 
nestly contested  many  of  my  positions.  I  refer 
more  particularly  to  J.  P.  Lange  (jjosit.  Dog- 
matik),  Ebrard  [AhJiandhcng  ilher  Bibel  unci  Na- 
turioissenscJiaft),  Hofmann  (Schriftheiceis),  and 
Delitzsch  {Erhldrung  der  Genesis).  Especially 
have  the  two  last-mentioned  works,  from  which 
I  frankly  and  gratefully  acknowledge  myself  to 
have  derived  much  benefit,  both  in  the  form  of 
information  and  suggestion,  and  by  which  I  have 
willingly  suffered  myself  to  be  corrected  in  seve- 
ral points  connected  with  the  subject  before  us  — 
especially  have  these  works  frequently  called 
upon  me  to  enter  upon  a  somewhat  lengthened 
defence  of  my  own  views  in  opposition  to  those 


author's    PREFACE.  ix 

presented  against  them.  This  has  been  so  often 
and  so  strikingly  the  case  in  regard  to  the  spirited 
production  of  Delitzsch,  that  it  might  almost  ap- 
pear to  the  uninitiated  as  though  my  theological 
sympathies  lay  in  a  wholly  different  direction 
from  his,  whilst  I  am  joyfully  conscious  of  stand- 
ing upon  the  same  ground  of  Christian  faith  and 
doctrine,  and  of  theological  science,  with  my 
esteemed  friend,  the  honored  author.  The  more 
frequently,  therefore,  I  am  compelled  to  disagree 
with  the  learned  writer  in  the  present  volume  — 
confessedly,  however,  only  in  points  not  vitally 
affecting  the  grounds  of  Christian  faith  and  doc- 
trine—  so  much  the  more  do  I  rejoice  that  I 
shall  soon  in  another  place,  have  occasion  to 
show  how  highly  I  prize  and  regard  the  late 
work  of  this  author,  and  to  testify  to  the  advan- 
tage and  stimulus  I  have  derived  from  its  perusal, 
as  well  as  to  show  how  closely  my  theological 
opinions  coincide  with  his  own. 

The  present  edition  of  this  work  has  demanded 
also,  in  those  portions  not  requiring  to  be  again 
wholly  elaborated,  manifold  improvements  and 
enlargements,  and  sometimes,  no  less,  abridge- 
ments, just  as  the  more  matured  taste  and  judg- 


X  AUTHOR    S    PREFACE. 

ment  of  the  iiiithor  has  dictated.  May  the  many 
alterations  and  additions  made,  be  found  to  in- 
deed improve  and  enrich  the  volume^  and  may  it 
in  its  new  form  meet  with  the  same  cheerful  and 
appreciative  reception  as  in  the  former  editions ! 

The  Author. 

DoRPAT,  Aufrust,  1852. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 
Theology  and  Natural  Science 


Page 

17 


CHAPTER  II. 
The  Deistic  and  Pantheistic  Theories  of  the  World.  ...     42 


CHAPTER  III. 
A  Universal  History  of  the  Cosmos  .... 


Gl 


CHAPTER    IV. 

The  Biblical  Theory  of   the   Origin,  Development  and 

Consummation  of  the  Universe 77 

Sec.  1.  Origin,  Significance,  and  Character  of  the  Bibli- 
cal History  of  the  Creation  and  the  Primeval 
Age 77 

2.  Continuation 89 

3.  Continuation 105 

4.  Limitation  and  Duration  of  the  Days  of  Creation  112 

5.  Creation  of  the  Heavens  and  the  Earth ........    127 

0.  Condition  of  the  Earth  prior  to  the  Six  Days' 

AYork 131 

7.  The  First,  Second,  and  Third  Days'  Work 136 

(xi) 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

Page 

Sec.    8.  The  Fourth  Day's  Work 139 

"       9.  The  Fifth  and  Sixth  Days'  Work 151 

"     10.  The  Primeval  History  of  Man ! 154 

"     11.  The  Position  and  Mission  of  the  First  Man. . .  158 

"     12.  The  Tree  of  the  Knowledge  of  Good  and  Evil. .  1G2 

"     13.  The  Formation  of  Woman 1G6 

"     14.  The  Fall 169 

"     15.  The  Tempter 172 

"     16.  Prospect  of  Redemption 175 

"     17.  The  Morning  Stars  and  the  Sons  of  God 186 

"     18.  Spirituality  and  Corporeality  of  the  Angels. ..  191 

"     19.  Nature,  Position,  and  Mission  of  the  Angels. .  207 

"    20.  The  Fall  in  the  Angelic  World 211 

"    21.  The  Fallen  Angels  not  capable  of  Redemption  215 
"    22.  The    Perpetuity  of   Evil    among    the   Fallen 

Angels 220 

"    23.  The  Abode  of  the  Holy  Angels 222 

"    24.  The  Heavens  as  the  Dwelling-Place  of  God. ...  228 
"    25.  Retrospective  View  of  the  Primeval  History  of 

the  Earth  and  Man , 232 

"     26.  Continuation 242 

"    27.  The  present  Place  of  the  Fallen  Angels 249 

"    28.  The  Universalllistory  of  the  Cosmos 262 

"    29.  The  Interest  of  the  Angels  in  Earthly  Develop- 
ments    265 

"     30.  Participation  of  the  Angels  in  the  Preparatives 

to  Salvation 268 

"    31.  Christ  the  Second  Adam 272 

"     32.  Cooperation  and  Opposition  of  the  Angels  in 

the  Life  of  Christ 277 

"    33.  Ascension  of  Christ  and  Progress  of  the  Con- 
test till  His  Return .*  281 

"     34.  Return  of  Christ  and  Renovation  of  the  Hea- 
vens and  the  Earth 286 

"     35.  The  Judgment  and  the  Eternal  Consummation  301 
"    36.  Retrospective   Glance  at  the   Position   of  the 

Angels 308 


CONTENTS.  Xlll 

CHAPTER    V. 

Page 

Astronomical  Investigations  and  Results 312 

Sec.     1.  The  Sun 313 

"      2.  The  Planets  and  Satellites 324 

*'       3.  Shooting  Stars 337 

"      4.  The  Comets 339 

"       5.  Origin  and  Stability  of  the  Solar  System 342 

"       6.  Parallaxes  of  the  Fixed  Stars 346 

"       7.  Solar  Nature  of  the  Fixed  Stars 350 

"       8.  The  Milky-AVay 353 

"       9.  The  Central  Sun 357 

"     10.  Variability  of  the  Fixed  Stars - 366 

"     11.  Double  and  Multiple  Stars 372 

"  12.  Dark  Bodies  in  the  Heavens  of  the  Fixed  Stars  379 

"    13.  The  NebulEe 387 

"    14.  Retrospect 413 


CHAPTER    VI. 

Conflict  and  Harmony  between   the  Bible  and  Astro- 


nomy 


418 


Sec.     1.  Design  of  this  Chapter 418 

"       2.  The  Doctrine  and  History  of  the  Creation 420 

"      3.  The  Creation  of  the  AVorld  in  Six  Days 423 

"       4.  The  Creation  of  Light  before  the  Sun 427 

"      5.  The  Creation  of  the  Fixed  Stars  before   the 

Earth 432 

"       6.  The  Creation  of  the  Planetary  System 436 

**      7.  The  Celestial  Worlds  in  general  Inhabited 439 

"       8.  The  Angels   as   the  Inhabitants  of  the  Fixed 

Stars 443 

"      9.  Continuation 452 

"     10.  Inhabitants  of  the  Extra-mundane  Bodies  of  our 

Solar  System 456 

"    11.  The  Astronomical  Theory  of  the  World 461 

2 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

Taqe 

Sec.  12.  The  Infinity  of  Space 4G4 

"     13.  The  Transcendence  and  Immanence  of  God  in 

the  Mirror  of  Astronomy 467 

14.  The  Incarnation  of  God 471 

15.  Continuation 475 

16.  Continuation 479 

17.  Continuation 491 

18.  Continuation 507 

19.  The  Catastrophe  of  the  End  of  the  World 515 

20.  The  Duration   of   the   present  Course  of  the 
Earth 520 

21.  The  Cosmical  Consummation 523 


<*  Jehova,  unser  Heer! 
Wie  lierrlich  ist  Dein  Name  auf  der  ganzen  Erde, 
Der  Du  mit  Deiner  Praclit  den  Himmcl  gekronet ! 
Aus  dem  Munde  der  Kinder  und  Sauglinge 
Bereitest  Du  Dir  eine  Macht, 
Um  zu  schwiclitigen  Feind'und  Rachgierige. 

Wenn  ich  sebe  Deinen  Ilimmel,  das  Werk  Deiner  Finger, 
Den  Mond  und  die  Sterne,  die  Du  gegriindet  bast : 
Was  ist  der  Menscli,  dass  Du  sein  gedenkest, 
Und  der  Menscbensobn,  dass  Du  ibn  besucbest  ? 
Wenig  unter  gottlicben  Stand  ei'niedrigst  Du  ibn, 
Kronest  ibn  mit  Ebre  und  Herrliclikeit. 
Du  lassest  ibn  berrscben  liber  das  Werk  Deiner  Iliinde, 
Allest  legtest  Du  unter  seiner  Fiisse, 
Scbafe  und  Kinder  allzumal, 
Sammt  den  Tbieren  des  Fekles, 

Den  Vogebi  des  Himmels  und  den  Fiscbeu  des  Meeres, 
Was  nur  durcbwandert  Pfade  des  Meeres. 

Jebova,  unser  Herr ! 
Wie  berrlich  ist  Dein  Name  auf  der  ganzen  Erde  !" 


(xvi) 


fdihlt  nnii  Sbtrnnorai] 


CHAPTER    FIRST. 
THEOLOGY    AND    NATUEAL    SCIENCE, 


We  have  also  a  more  sure  ivord  of  ^propTiecy^  where- 
unto  ye  do  luell  that  ye  take  heed,  as  unto  a  light  that 
shineth  in  a  dark  j^l^tee,  until  the  day  dawn,  and  the 
day-star  arise  in  your  hearts} 

Truly  the  Word  of  Gocl,  as  spoken  unto  us  by 
lioly  men  of  old,  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  is  a 
sure  word ;  for  though  heaven  and  earth  should  pass 
away,  no  jot  or  tittle  of  it  shall  fail :  it  is  a  precious 
word,  full  of  the  energies  of  a  divine  life,  a  lamp 
unto  our  feet  and  a  light  unto  our  path. 

But  nature  also,  to  him  who  has  learned  to  read 
therein,  is  a  divine  book  laid  open ;  for  the  invisible 
things  of  Him,  from  the  creation  of  the  world,  are 
clearly  seen,  heiyig  understood  hy  the  things  that  are 
made,  even  his  eternal  fower  and  Qodhead?  The 
heavens,  also,  declare  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  firma- 
ment showeth  forth  his  handiwork.^  All  that  the 
starry  heavens  reveal  in  lines  of  light;  all  that  the 
seas,    the    depths    and    mountains    of   the    earth, 

»  2  Peter  1  :  19.  2  ^^^^  1  .  oQ.  3  pgalm  19  :  2. 

2  *  (17) 


18  T  II  E  0  L  0  G  Y    A  N  D 

proclaim,  —  the  cheerful  day  and  the  stormy  night, 
the  glorious  bloom  of  spring,  with  the  hail  which 
crushes  and  the  frost  which  blasts  its  beauty;  the 
lily  of  the  field,  the  sparrow  on  the  roof,  the  hem- 
lock in  the  meadow,  the  serpent  in  the  grass ;  yea, 
even  a  mote  in  the  sunbeam,  or  a  grain  of  sand, 
are,  wdien  carefully  read  and  correctly  understood, 
a  Word  of  God;  testifying  of  former  days,  declaring 
His  wisdom  and  His  power,  but  also  His  holiness; 
revealing  His  creative  love,  but  also  His  avenging 
justice. 

The  yearning  and  earnest  expectation  of  the  crea- 
ture '^  are  no  less  a  sermon  from  God,  fraught  with 
the  deepest  lessons  of  wisdom  and  knowledge,  testi- 
fying of  blessings  and  curses,  of  death  and  the  resur- 
rection, of  sin  and  redemption.^ 

"Although,"  says  one  who  has  devoted  his  whole 
life^  to  the  study  of  this  divine  writing — "although 
the  book  of  Mature  in  comparison  w^ith  the  holy 
book  of  Eevelation,  appears  but  like  an  obelisk 
covered  with  hieroglyphics,  standing  amid  the  ruins 
of  an  overthrow^n  city;  whose  characters  have  in 
part  become  unintelligible  to  the  ]3resent  race  of 
men,  and  in  part  defaced  and  obliterated  by  a  hostile 
hand;  yet  have  w^e  good  grounds  upon  wdiich  to 
maintain  an  agreement  between  the  contents  of  these 
hieroglyphic  tracings,  which  were  originally  also  a 

•  Rom.  8  :  19-21. 

2  Compare,  for  example,  the  interesting  remarks  of  G.  IT.  v. 
Schubert.  Ansichten  von  der  Kachfseite  der  KaturwissenscJiaft,  4tli 
ed.,  Dresd.  1840,  p.  259  seq. 

^  G.  IL  V.  Schubert,  Symholik  des  Traums,  3d  ed.,  Leipzig,  1840, 
p.  44  seq. 


NATURAL    SCIENCE.  19 

revelation  of  God  to  man,  and  the  contents  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures.  Yea,  nature  also,  with  unmistake- 
able  clearness,  bears  witness  of  Him  from  whom  and 
through  whom  are  all  things;  and  in  the  present  age 
of  the  world,  when  man  is  perversely  inclined  more 
to  investigate  and  delight  in  physical  and  intellec- 
tual truths,  in  which  he  would  fain  iind  a  full  supply 
of  his  wants,  than  in  an  examination  of  Holy  Writ, 
it  is  perhaps  not  wholly  unnecessary  to  call  attention 
to  the  solemn  testimony  of  nature,  and  the  harmony 
of  its  teachings  with  those  of  the  Sacred  record. 

True,  the  written  Word  of  God  contains  all  that  is 
necessary  for  our  welfare :  true,  the  Sacred  Oracles 
speak  to  us  more  clearly,  intelligibly,  and  unmistake- 
ably,  than  the  characters  of  the  obelisk :  they  speak 
just  as  clearly  to  the  learned  as  to  the  unlearned,  to 
the  rude  and  unlettered  as  to  the  talented  and  refined. 
For  they  are  like  "a  stream  of  varying  depth,  in 
which  the  elephant  may  swim  and  the  lamb  wade," 
and  whosoever  hopes,  with  the  book  of  ^N'ature,  to 
dispense  with  the  book  of  Eevelation,  his  eyes  are 
blinded  no  less  to  the  witness  of  the  one  than  the 
other,  to  the  being  and  works  of  God.  Yet  still 
must  we  also  give  heed  to  that  voice,  whose  sound 
goes  out  through  all  the  earth,  and  its  words  to  the  end 
of  the  world,^  and  learn  from  it  what  is  revealed  to 
us  through  the  creative  word  of  God ;  and  this  the 
rather,  since  nature — originally  a  message  from  God 
for  us  —  may  yet  become  a  witness  against  us,  for  it 
is  written,  so  that  they  are  without  excuse."^ 

Therefore,  let  the  theologian,  and  indeed  all  Cliris- 

'  Ps.  19  :  4.  2  YxQ^,  1  :  20. 


20  T  II  E  0  L  0  a  Y    A  N  D 

tia7is,  deign  to  learn  of  the  student  of  nature :  let 
the  student  of  revelation  give  honor  to  whom  honor 
is  due :  let  him  cheerfully  permit  the  masters  of  sci- 
ence to  disclose  to  his  view  a  new  world  of  wonders, 
the  product  of  his  Father's  hand.  Let  him  frankly 
acknowledge  the  truth,  and  strive  to  appreciate  the 
bold  and  laborious  research  by  which  fresh  treasures 
are  brought  to  light  from  the  deep  and  hidden  mines 
of  science,  and  cast  into  current  coin. 

But,  in  like  manner,  let  the  man  of  science  give 
honor  to  whom  honor  is  due,  the  master  become  the 
disciple,  the  teacher  the  pupil.  Let  him  sit  in  the 
humble  and  teachable  posture  of  a  second  Mary  of 
Bethany,  at  the  feet  of  a  higher  Master,  and  there 
learn  the  words  of  eternal  life,  and  a  wisdom  which 
dates  not  its  origin  in  time — there  learn  what  neither 
his  microscope  nor  telescope  can  reveal,  and  yet  what 
alone  can  lend  to  his  wisdom  a  true  sacred  character. 
Let  him  not  forget  that  if  nature  be  a  book  full  of 
Divine  lessons  and  teachings,  jet  is  the  Bible  the 
lexicon  and  grammar,  whereby  alone  the  etymology 
and  syntax  of  its  sacred  language,  the  form  and  his- 
tory, the  sense  and  signification,  of  the  single  words, 
may  be  learned — that  it  alone  is  the  teacher  of  that 
criticism,  hermeneutics,  aesthetics,  and  logic,  whereby 
the  "disjecta  membra  poet^e"  are  to  be  arranged,  ex- 
plained, and  understood. 

But  what  if  the  Bible  and  I^ature,  instead  of  ex- 
plaining, amplifying,  and  completing,  should  contra- 
dict each  other  ? 

The  Bible  and  I^ature,  since  both  are  the  work  of 
God,  must  agree.    "Where  this  does  not  appear  to  be 


NATURAL    SCIENCE.  21 

the  case,  the  exegesis  either  of  the  theologian  or  the 
student  of  nature  must  be  at  fault.  And  not  merely 
the  latter,  hut  also  the  former  is,  alas !  too  often 
the  case,  and  has  begotten  incalculable  difficulty  in 
the  question  with  regard  to  the  harmony  of  nature 
and  the  Scriptures. 

"Wherever  honest  douht,  desirous  only  of  reliable 
and  incontestable  truth,  or  hostile  unbelief,  delighting 
ever  to  disgrace  the  cause  of  Bible  truth  in  the 
eyes  of  the  world,  have  brought  forward  pretended 
—  or  apparent — contradictions  not  capable  of  recon- 
ciliation, between  the  teachings  of  Scripture  and  the 
results  of  science,  they  have  generally  referred  to 
the  Biblical  history  of  the  creation ;  and  not  only 
divines,  but  perhaps  more  frequently  men  of  science, 
have  enlisted  all  their  learning  and  sagacity  to  do 
away  with  these  pretended  contradictions,  and  bring 
out  in  all  its  beauty  and  symmetry,  the  agreement 
between  the  Bible  and  science. 

And  behold !  just  here,  where  the  conflict  would 
fain  be  the  most  unmistakable,  and  the  contradic- 
tions most  numerous — jttst  here  it  is,  that,  with  an 
adequate  idea  of  Divine  Revelation,  and  a  proper 
understanding  of  the  Divine  record,  a  contradiction 
is  wholly  impossible.  And  for  this  reason,  that  the 
Bible  neither  reveals  nor  was  designed  to  reveal 
what  is  attainable  by  scientific  investigation ;  and 
conversely^  that  no  knowledge  to  be  gained  by 
scientific  research,  comes  within  the  province  of 
revelation: — because  these  two  sources  of  knowledge 
do  not  encroach  in  their  teachings  upon  each  other, 
but  lie   side   by   side,  and   hence  of  course   cannot 


22  T  II  E  0  L  0  G  Y    A  N  D 

contradict  and  supplant,  but  only  (the  correctness  of 
their  teachings  in  other  respects  granted)  complete 
each  other. 

The  ^losaic  history  of  the  creation,^  as  the  Bible 
in  general,  was  by  no  means  designed  to  give  in- 
struction in  regard  to  natural  science.  ITo thing  was 
more  foreign  to  its  object.  The  efforts  of  the  human 
mind  after  secular  culture,  after  art  and  science, 
were  never  designed  to  be  mere  tributaries  to,  and 
dependent  upon,  special  Divine  revelation.  As  man 
was  to  gain  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow,  his  daily 
bread,  for  the  support  of  his  lyliysical  life,  from  the 
earth  he  inhabits;  so  also  must  he  acquire  from  na- 
ture zn,  around^  below,  and  above  him,  by  wearisome 
effort  and  diligent  research,  science  and  knowledge 
for  the  support  and  culture  of  his  mental  being. 
In  no  case  whatever  has  either  mathematical, 
physical,  or  medical  science,  been  communicated 
to  him  by  Divine  revelation.  l!^one  of  the  prophets 
of  the  old  dispensation,  no  apostle  of  the  new, 
gained  scientific  knowledge  through  revelation,  l^o 
one  of  them  was  raised  'by  Divine  illumination  in 
this  respect,  beyond  the  stage  of  know^ledge  and 
culture  belonging  to  their  own  age.  All  that  a 
Moses  knew  in  the  several  spheres  of  Astronomy, 
Geology,  ISTatural  History  and  Medicine;  in  regard 
to  the  constitution  of  the  starry  heavens,  the  struc- 
ture of  the  earth's  crust,  the  signs  of  clean  and  un- 
clean animals,  the  course  or  treatment  of  leprosy, 

•  "We  cannot  here  anticipate  the  detailed  explanations  of  the 
subsequent  chapters  of  this  work,  and  must  hence  for  the  present 
confine  ourselves  somewhat  to  generals. 


NATURAL    SCIENCE.  23 

the  economy  of  tlie  sexes,  etc.,  he  had  learned  under 
the  tuition  of  the  Egyptian  Magi,^  or  had  acquired 
from  personal  observation  and  study  during  the 
forty  years  he  spent  in  the  wilderness.  But  Divine 
wisdom  knew  well  how  to  avail  itself  of  knowledge 
thus  acquired,  by  natural  means,  and  to  consecrate 
it  as  the  vehicle  of  imperishable  ideas  of  grace  and 
justice,  of  sin  and  redemption.  All  that  a  Solomon, 
whose  wisdom  attracted  the  Queen  of  the  South, 
spoke  or  sung,^  in  his  three  thousand  Proverbs,  or 
in  his  one  thousand  and  five  songs;  in  regard  to 
trees,  from  the  Cedar  of  Lebanon  to  the  hissop  upon 
the  wall;  in  regard  to  beasts  and  birds,  creeping 
things  and  fishes;  was  the  fruit  of  his  own  deep 
contemplations  of  nature ;  but  it  was  also  a  channel 
through  which  Divine  wisdom  might  be  conveyed 
to  the  minds  of  men. 

Yea,  we  go  even  further;  we  boldly  maintain,  and 
with  the  fullest  assurance  of  not  in  the  least  com- 
promising the  Divine  character  of  the  sacred  books, 
that  holy  men  of  God,  both  of  the  Old  and  ^N'ew  dis- 
pensations, who,  under  the  influence  of  the  Spirit 
were  moved  to  divine  v\'ords  or  deeds,  may  very 
easily  have  been  involved,  as  far  as  scientific  know- 

^  Hence,  the  circumstances  which  brought  Moses  into  connec- 
tion with  these  wise  men,  must  be  regarded  as  having  been  spe- 
cially under  the  divine  direction.  He  who  was  to  give  to  I&rael 
the  law  and  divine  service,  and  with  them  fresh  treasures  of 
divine  revelation,  must  also  be  learned  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the 
Egyptians ;  in  order,  thereby,  to  attain  to  the  highest  preparation 
of  his  natural  gifts  and  talents,  and  also  sufficiently  comprehen- 
sive knowledge,  for  the  fulfilment  of  his  Divine  mission. 

2  1  Kings,  4  ;  32,  33. 


24  THEOLOGYAND 

ledge  is  concerned,  in  the  common  and  prevailing 
errors  of  tlieir  age.  Such  errors  did  not  in  the  least 
detract  from  the  religions  truths  they  were  called 
npon  to  announce,  and  impress  upon  the  hearts  of 
men.  If  it  be  true,  for  example,  that  in  the  time  of 
Joshua  the  common  opinion  prevailed,  that  the  sun, 
together  with  the  whole  starry  heavens,  revolved 
around  the  earth  in  24  hours,  certainly  Joshua  him- 
self was  not  raised  above  this  error ;  and  it  doubtless 
lay  at  the  foundation  of  that  command,  evincing 
such  signal  faith  and  so  often  commented  upon : 
<'  Sun,  stand  thou  still  upon  Gibeon,  and  thou  moon 
in  the  valley  of  Ajalon."^  Joshua  spoke  the  com- 
mand of  faith  as  he  understood  the  matter,  but  the 
Divine  hearinof  of  the  command  was  carried  out  as 
God  understood  it.^  jSTor  should  our  faith  be  any 
more  estranged  from  the  Scriptures,  on  finding  that 
the  geocentric  view  underlies  tlieir  teachings  in 
other  passages.'-^     Moses   also   may  have   had  very 

J  Jos.  10  :  12,  seq. 

2  The  desire  of  Joshua  was,  to  see  the  light  of  day  remain,  and 
the  darkness  of  night  prevented,  until  he  had  secured  his  object 
in  the  pursuit  of  his  enemy.  And  this  desire  he  gained  through 
his  extraordinary  faith.  It  was  a  matter  of  no  moment  to  the 
faith  of  Joshua  centuries  ago,  nor  is  it  now,  to  the  faith  of  the 
reader,  by  what  natural  means  such  a  supernatural  effect  should 
be  produced. 

3  All  attempts,  therefore,  to  prevent  the  inspiration  of  the 
Bible  from  suffering  in  respect  to  matters  of  human  science,  by 
proving  that  though  the  Scriptures  may  indeed  speak  geocentri 
cally,  the  heliocentric  view,  nevertheless,  underlies  their  teach- 
ings, must  be  regarded  as  having  mistaken  their  object,  and  as 
tending  to  error.  This  is  nothing  more  than  the  opposite  pole  of 
that  perverse  and  mistaken  spirit,  which  sought  the  rejection  of 


NATURAL     SCIENCE.  25 

many  physically  erroneous  views  touching  the  nature 
of  the  starry  heavens,  or  the  structure  of  the  earth, 
as  he  in  the  spirit  of  prophecy  conceived  the  history 
of  the  creation  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  without 

the  Copernican  system,  because  a  few  passages  of  Scripture  in- 
volve the  geocentric  view.  Such  was  the  error  committed  by  the 
worthy  G.  Fr.  v.  Meyer,  who,  in  his  Bldttern  fiir  holiere  Wahrheif, 
viii,  342  seq.,  tries  to  defend  the  formal  proposition:  "The  Bible, 
in  thought,  takes  the  heliocentric  view."  In  order  to  effect  this, 
he  adduces  particularly,  James  1st,  17th :  "  Every  good  gift  and 
every  perfect  gift  is  from  above,  and  cometh  down  from  the 
Father  of  lights,  with  whom  is  no  variableness,  neither  shadow 
of  turning."  In  explanation,  he  adds :  **  Here  allusion  is  made 
to  the  earth,  in  contrast  to  the  lights  of  the  firmament,  and  there 
is  attributed  to  the  former,  not  as  an  accidental,  but  as  an  inhe- 
rent quality,  what  is  denied  as  an  essential  or  inherent  property 
with  God,  namely,  a  variableness  and  darkness  produced  by  turn- 
ing (or  rotation).  Were  reference  here  made  to  a  revolution  of 
the  heavens  about  the  earth,  in  connection  with  which  the  sun 
produces  the  alternation  of  day  and  night,  this  motion  would  be 
something  external  to,  and  not  belonging  to  the  earth,  which 
would  not  be  in  harmony  with  the  import  of  the  contrast.  We 
concede  that  the  hint  is  a  very  slight  one,  not  rising  to  the  cha- 
racter of  a  direct  animadversion  ;  and  we  regard  the  passage  as 
a  proof,  as  delicate  as  it  is  clear,  that  no  less  according  to  the 
wisdom  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  than  the  teachings  of  modern 
science,  the  earth  rotates  upon  its  axis ;  yea,  that  it  holds,  as  is 
scarcely  to  be  separated  from  its  axial  rotation,  its  annual  course 
around  the  sun,  and  hence,  of  course,  that  the  heliocentric  system 
must  underlie  the  views  of  the  Bible."  G.  F.  G.  GoUz  {in  his 
otherwise  not  unworthy  small  treatise:  Die  Stillstehende  Sonne 
zu  Gibeon,  Berlin,  1833,  p.  35)  concurs  in  this  course  of  reason- 
ing, and  adduces  as  an  additional  argument.  Gen.  1:5:  "Then 
from  evening  and  morning  arose  the  first  day,"  [as  Luther  ren- 
ders the  passage].  By  this  he  would  have  us  understand  :  "  Then 
came  the  day  from  evening  (the  west)  towards  morning  (the 
east)."    And  thus  does  the  passage  contain  evidence  that  the 

3 


26  THEOLOGY    AND 

its  at  all  being  necessary  that  liis  mind  should  have 
been  thereby  disabused  of  these  errors ;  for  the 
Mosaic  history  of  the  creation  was  by  no  means  in- 
tended to  give  instruction  in  physics,  but  its  design 
was  wholly  to  impart  religious  knowledge. 

True,  however,  it  is  also  conceivable  that  a  physi- 
cal truth  may  be  interwoven  with  the  revelation  of 
religious  truths,  either  as  the  necessary  vehicle  of 
the  latter,  or  perhaps  as  the  accidental  attendant,  or 
in  a  measure,  the  exponent  of  such  truths.  Doubt- 
less, the  religious  or  ethical  position  of  something 
in  nature,  which  is  the  object  of  revelation,  may  be 
so  conditioned  by  its  physical  constitution,  which  is 
matter  of  scientific  inquiry,  that  an  erroneous  appre- 
hension of  the  latter  would  give  to  the  former  a 
false  character  and  an  erroneous  tendency.  Thus, 
for  example,  the  physical  constitution  of  the  uni- 
verse, the  adjustment  and  connection  of  the  diiferent 
bodies  composing  it,  their  mutual  relations,  and  the 
like,  may  also  have  a  religious  significance;  wdiich, 
as  such,  might  be  matter  of  revelation,  so  far  as  a 
more  profound  knowledge  of  it  might  lend  to  our 
minds  a  more  comprehensive  or  a  clearer  insight 
into  the  Divine  plan  of  the  world,  in  which  we  are 
also  included,  and  so  deeply  interested.  But  even 
in  such  cases,  physical  instruction  cannot  be  so  con- 
nected with  revelation,  either  as  its  direct  object, 
nor  yet  as  its  consequence,  that  the  human  mind 

earth  rotates  from  the  west  to  the  east ;  for,  were  the  Scriptures 
to  speak  geocentrically,  they  should  say,  in  accordance  with  the 
apparent  course  of  the  sun :  "  Then  from  the  morning  and  the 
evening,  arose  the  first  day." 


NATURAL    SCIENCE.  27 

given  lip  to  the  influence  of  the  Spirit,  should  there- 
by be  occasioned  or  forced  to  give  up  erroneous 
views  in  the  sphere  of  physics ;  or  rendered  capable 
of  so  anticipating  the  future  developments  of  human 
science,  that  its  knowledge  thus  acquired,  should 
stand  in  open  conflict  with  the  stage  of  development 
belonsfiuo:  to  that  aore :  for  both  these  alike  would 
directly  conflict  with  the  character  of  Divine  revela- 
tion. Eevelation  in  such  cases  refrains  from  com- 
m.unicating  knowledge,  as  indeed  it  does  not  design 
to  reveal  at  once,  all  and  everything  that  is  of  re- 
ligious significance,  ^ay,  rather,  it  is  like  a  gover- 
ness, who  does  not  at  once  impart  to  the  child  com- 
mitted to  her  care,  all  she  knows ;  but  merely  at  each 
time  what  is  immediately  required  for  the  advance- 
ment of  her  pupil,  or  what  its  previous  culture 
has  fitted  it  to  receive  and  apply.  The  Holy  Scrip- 
tures in  such  cases,  evince  their  Divine  character  in 
this ;  that  they  leave  room  for  all  the  future  progress 
and  results  of  science,  that  they  never  are  found  in 
error,  and  that  no  new  science  may  approach  them 
with  the  remark,  "Had  ye  but  been  silent."  But 
we  may  rest  in  the  confident  assurance  that  hereafter 
— in  eternal  life — a  revelation  of  a  vastly  higher  and 
more  comprehensive  kind,  will  rectify  the  errors  of 
our  human  science,  fill  up  its  chasms,  and  disclose 
to  our  eager  minds  its  higher  religious  import. 

The  error  on  the  part  of  the  student  of  the  Bible, 
when  contradictions  seem  to  arise  on  a  comparison 
of  the  facts  of  revelation  with  the  results  of  science, 
consists  frequently  in  this :  that  he  expects  to  find  in 
the  Bible,  information  that  is  wholly  foreign  to  it, 


28  THEOLOGYAND 

and  wliicli  it  would  have  no  motive  in  communi- 
cating ;  since  for  the  time  being  it  still  lies  wholly 
without  the  sphere  of  its  objects.  Deluded  by  the 
ignis  fatuus  of  this  false  expectation,  the  Scriptures 
are  examined  ;  and,  thus  examined,  naturally  appear 
in  a  false  light  and  are  v/rongly  apprehended. 

But  none  the  less  may  the  pretended  or  supposed 
contradiction  rest  upon  an  erroneous  interpretation 
on  the  part  of  the  student  of  nature,  in  that  he  too 
may  approach  the  Book  of  nature  with  unwarranted 
pre-suppositions,  and  there  read  from  its  pages  what 
he  himself  put  into  them.  As  the  scientific  and 
physical  point  in  regard  to  any  matter,  is  not  the 
subject  of  revelation,  so,  converse^,  the  specifically 
religious  point  does  not  fall  within  the  sphere  of 
empirical  science.  Whether,  for  example,  the  v/orld 
was  created  in  time,  and  from  nothing,  through  the 
will  of  a  personal  God,  as  the  Bible  teaches;  or 
whether,  as  erring  belief  of  both  ancient  and  modern 
times  teaches,  it  be  itself  God  and  eternal,  so  that 
the  origin  of  new  forms  of  life  in  it  manifest  only 
its  proper  self-development ;  is  a  question  which  no 
man  of  science  is  able  to  determine,  from  the  results 
of  his  observations  and  investigations ;  for  the  in- 
strument of  such  knowledge  is  faith  alone.  It  ever 
eludes  the  grasp  of  empirical  science,  and  the  more 
conscientious  and  faithful  such  science  is,  so  much 
the  more  carefully  will  it  abstain  from  all  such  erro- 
neous and  presumptuous  expectations.  It  were  the 
gravest  possible  self-delusion  for  the  student  of  na- 
ture, or  any  one  else,  to  imagine  that  the  results  of 
his  empirical  investigations  required  him  to  deny 


NATURAL    SCIENCE.  29 

the  Biblical  doctrine  of  the  creation  of  the  world. 
ISTot  science,  but  speculation  (for  error  may  exist  in 
the  magnet  or  compass  no  less  readily  than  faith  or 
truth),  is  to  blame  for  such  vain  assumptions. 

As  with  the  Biblical  doctrine  of  the  creation,  so  is 
it  ^^itli  the  other  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, which  are  regarded  as  being  incompatible  with 
the  results  of  science.  There  is  drawn  or  extorted 
from  these  results  —  true  and  false — a  theory  of  the 
world,  in  which  the  Biblical  doctrines  of  angels  and 
spiritual  beings,  of  original  sin  and  the  incarnation; 
of  redemption  and  the  end  of  the  world,  of  the  judg- 
ment, resurrection,  and  future  state,  no  longer  find 
room  or  recognition.  And  here  again  it  is  not 
natural  science  that  is  to  blame;  but  unbridled 
speculation,  or  rather  an  already  existing  tendency 
of  thought  or  imagination,  which  carries  specula- 
tion with  it,  and  thus  does  violence  to  the  results  of 
scientific  investigation,  in  order  to  force  them  to  say 
what  is  most  pleasing  to  the  unbelieving  ear. 

When  we  take  into  consideration,  in  addition  to 
the  arbitrary  course  of  philosophical  speculation, 
also  the  unreliable  character  of  those  scientific  re- 
sults which  it  makes  use  of  as  starting-points,  it  at 
once  becomes  clear  how  little  weight  is  to  be  as- 
cribed to  its  deductions,  in  contrast  with  the  teach- 
ings of  revelation.  For  it  is  a  notorious  fact,  that 
the  more  deeply  science  attempts  to  press  into  the 
secrets  of  the  origin  and  existence  of  all  things,  to 
solve  the  problems  of  time  and  space,  so  much  the 
more  unreliable  do  its  results  become.  It  is  oj)en  to 
error  in  precisely  the  same  ratio  that  difiiculties  pre- 
3* 


30  T  H  E  0  L  0  G  Y    A  N  D 

sented  by  the  sea  and  the  mountains,  the  depths  of 
the  earth  and  the  heights  of  heaven,  grow  in  magni- 
tude. It  is  the  less  liable  to  take  appearance  for 
reality  and  reality  for  appearance,  just  in  the  same 
degree  that  it  confines  itself  to  the  surface  of  things, 
without  being  able  to  pierce  to  their  centre.  Its 
results  are  the  more  inadmissible,  the  greater  the 
difiiculty  our  abstract  age  has  to  surmount,  in  un- 
riddling its  hieroglyphics  and  picture-writing;  and 
in  the  same  ratio  does  a  sagacious  criticism  become 
necessary,  to  distinguish  what  is  genuine  from  what 
is  false  or  interpolated,  in  the  great  Book  of  Mature. 
For  let  us  not  attempt  to  conceal  the  fact  that  nature 
no  longer  offers  us  the  pure  hand-writing  of  God :  it 
is,  in  many  respects,  a  7:>aZ«???ps<?sf,  a  "  codex  rescrip- 
tus:"  an  enemy's  hand  has  passed  over  it,  and  ob- 
literated or  rendered  indistinct  many  a  precious  cha- 
racter, and  introduced  or  superscribed  many  a  word 
which  did  not  originally  belong  to  it. 

Hence  it  is  clear  that  the  Scriptural  theologian  has 
little  to  fear  from  the  pretended  antagonistic  cha- 
racter of  the  results  of  science.  But  if  a  conflict 
nevertheless  arises,  let  him  search  the  Scriptures 
with  all  diligence,  and  test  with  the  greatest  sacrifice 
of  opinion  his  apprehension  of  the  written  word, 
forgetting  all  assumption  of  personal  sagacity  and 
knowledge, — let  this  be  his  only  presupposition ;  that 
the  word  of  God  must  stand  and  will  stand,  immov- 
ably firm,  in  opposition  to  all  the  assaults  and  con- 
fusion of  the  opinions  of  the  age,  and  of  human 
wisdom,  as  well  as  all  the  pretensions  of  human 
science.     If  he  do  not  thus  succeed  in  solving  the 


NATURAL    SCIENCE.  31 

supposed  contradiction,  let  Mm  securely  remain  in 
the  fortress  of  the  Word,  under  the  cheerful  convic- 
tion that  the  contradiction  is  either  merely  an  appa- 
rent one —  none  at  all  —  or  that  the  error  lies  upon 
the  side  of  science.  Let  him  rely  upon  science,  or 
rather,  upon  the  living  God,  whose  potent  word  in 
spite  of  all  human  pretensions,  supports  even  science 
itself,  that  it  (science),  in  the  purifying  tires  of  its 
own  development,  will  separate  from  the  true  sub- 
stance, all  wood,  hay,  and  stubble.  To  swear  by 
the  words  of  a  master,  may  in  all  other  cases  indir 
cate  a  dependent  and  timid  mind;  but  there  is  a 
Master  by  v/hose  words  we  may  swear,  and  at  the 
same  time  evince  true  freedom  and  independency : 
The  Lord  and  his  Spirit,  for  it  is  written :  "  neither 
he  ye  called  masters,  for  one  is  your  3Iaster,  even 
Christ:''^ 

Fortunately,  however,  the  case  is  still  propitious. 
True  science,  and  particularly  natural  science,  has 
in  all  ages  of  the  world  willingly  taken  a  position 
at  the  feet  of  revelation;  and  has  ever  carefully 
avoided  any  attempts  to  bring  its  results  into  hostile 
antagonism  with  the  teachings  of  Scripture.  We 
might  bring  forward  a  not  insignificant  array  of 
witnesses  to  the  truth  of  Christianity,  from  the 
ranks  of  science ;  we  might  recount  a  liost  of  cele- 
brated names,  from  Alhertus  Magnus  down  to  Schubert 
and  Quvier,  which,  at  the  same  time,  are  of  note  in 
the  Christian  world.  We  might  bring  forward  a 
host  of  witnesses,  who  shine  as  stars  of  the  first 
magnitude  in  the  firmament  of  science,  who  all 
»  Matt.  23  :  10,  comp.  John  8  :  32,  ZQ^ 


32  THEOLOGY    AND 

have  clieerfully  asserted  their  unshaken  faith  in  Holy 
Writ,  and  the  harmony  of  its  teachings  with  the 
results  of  their  scientific  investigations  —  if  this  did 
not  lead  us  too  far  from  our  present  object,  if  it  had 
not  already  been  frequently  and  satisfactorily  done. 

The  more  astonishing  and  greater  the  progress  of 
the  natural  sciences  collectively  in  our  day,  the 
more  day  by  day  our  knowledge  of  nature  increases 
in  depth  and  expands  in  compass,  and  the  results  and 
views  obtained  become  the  highly  prized,  if  not  indeed 
sometimes  over-valued  common  property  of  all  culti- 
vated minds, — so  much  the  less  is  the  Christian,  and 
particularly  the  divine,  called  upon  to  ignore  them ; 
nay  rather,  so  much  the  more  is  it  necessary  that  he 
should  bring  these  results  and  views  into  fruitful 
connection  with  Holy  Writ,  in  order  that  the  two 
might  be  united  and  mutually  complete  each  other. 
Endeavors  to  consummate  such  a  union  have,  in- 
deed, often  been  misconstrued,  and  the  call  for 
them  even  often  denied,  both  on  the  part  of  science 
and  also  religion.  ISTor  have  contemptuous  insinua- 
tions been  wholly  wanting.  These,  however,  we  may 
well  leave  unnoticed;  but  objections  sincerely  urged, 
in  the  name  of  religion  or  science,  we  duly  recog- 
nize ;  but  none  the  less  on  this  account  do  we  con- 
sider the  difhculties  upon  which  they  are  based, 
as  without  due  foundation. 

Nay  rather,  we  maintain  that  science  can  but  reap 
advantage  from  a  vital  union  with  faith ;  nor  can 
faith,  on  the  other  hand,  derive  less  benefit  from  a 
similar  union.  Science  receives  its  true  consecration 
from  faith,  its  eternal  significance,  outreaching  far 


NATURAL     SCIENCE.  33 

the  bounds  of  time ;  faith  clcrives  from  science, 
warmth  and  vivacity,  vigor  and  fullness.  Science  is 
the  3'ounger  brother  of  faith ;  both  are  the  offspring 
of  the  sa7ne  parent,  that  eternal  Wisdom  through 
which  all  things  were  made,  and  by  which  they  are 
supported  and  preserved.  Should  not  a  common 
love  to  a  common  parent,  by  whom  they  are  both 
sustained,  be  also  a  bond  of  sympathy  between 
them  ?  Can  it  be  that  one  of  them  should  wholly 
disregard  the  welfare  of  the  other?  Can  the  elder, 
without  the  guilt  of  fratricide,  repeat  the  impious 
speech  :  "Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?"  Or  shall  the 
younger  be  allowed  boldly  to  vaunt  himself,  and 
say:  I  have  no  need  of  you  ? 

But,  says  the  advocate  of  science,  shall  the  science 
of  physics,  which  has  but  lately  burst  the  fetters 
imposed  upon  it  by  a  narrow-minded  religion,  be 
bound  anew  ?  Shall  the  more  free  and  happy  course 
of  development,  which  it  has  but  lately  entered  upon, 
be  obstructed  anew  by  the  dogmas  of  the  church  ? 
Would  not  its  freedom  of  vision,  in  the  most  favor- 
able cases,  be  thus  obscured  or  obstructed  by  preju- 
dices or  pre-conceived  notions  ?  AVere  natural  sci- 
ence again  to  be  vitally  united  with  faith,  it  would 
certainly  lose  its  sovereignty  and  independence,  and 
then  might  we  expect  a  return  of  those  dark  ages, 
in  which  an  Albertus  Magnus  and  a  Roger  Bacon 
were  decried  as  magicians,  and  a  Gallileo  persecuted 
and  imprisoned. — ]N'ot  so !  this  should  not  be  the 
case,  this  will  not  be  the  case !  Science  is  not  to 
become  the  mere  servant  of  faith ;  it  is  only  to  strive 
with  it  toward  a  common  object,  in  free  and  uncon- 


34  T  11  E  0  L  0  G  y     A  N  D 

strained  alliance,  viz  :  the  glorifying  of  God  througli 
a  knowledge  of  his  wisdom  and  power,  his   grace 
and  holiness;  and  the  advancement  of  man  to  the 
image  of  God,  through  a  knowledge  of  his  own  call- 
ing, his  position  and  mission  in  the  world.     Science 
is  not  to  be  cheated  of  its  freedom ;  hut  is  to  become 
a  co-heir  of  the  riches  laid  up  in  the  Father's  house : 
the  sphere  of  its  calling  is  not  to  be  closed  against 
it.     'Nay  rather,    let  it   descend    into   the   deepest 
depths,  and  climb  to  the  highest  heights ;  let  it  take 
the  wangs  of  the  morning,  and  ily  to  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth,  or  with  the  swift  footsteps  of 
light,  hasten  to  the  giddy  heights  of  the  heavens ; 
but  let  it  not  forget  the  Father's  house,  nor  ftiil  fre- 
quently to  return  thither,  casting  its  acquired  trea- 
sures humbly  at  the  feet  of  the  everlasting  Parent, 
in  order  that  they  may  be  thoroughly  purified  in  the 
refinins:  fire  of  eternal  wisdom.     Its  efi:brts  and  zeal 
are  not  to  be  lightly  esteemed  or  despised  by  faith ; 
but,  at  the  same  time,  let  it  not  be  too  haughty  to 
heed  the   counsel    and    admonitions   of    its   elder 
brother,  and  avail  itself  of  his  wisdom  and  experi- 
ence. 

But  on  the  opposite  side  w^e  see  a  similar  array  of 
difiiculties.  Thus  objects  the  partisan  of  faith  :  the 
Bible  furnishes  us  with  wholly  reliable,  objective 
truth ;  natural  science,  with  unsatisfactory  or  inade- 
quate perceptions,  subj ective  views  or  notions.  In  the 
case  of  the  latter,  what  to-day  passes  for  indubitable, 
impregnable  truth,  is  to-morrow  resigned  as  error, 
only  to  be  followed  by  a  new  view,  in  all  probability 
destined   for   a   similar  fate.     Are  we  justified  in 


NATURAL    SCIENCE.  35 

bringing  together,  uniting  and  mingling,  what  is 
divinely  communicated  with  what  is  obtained  by 
mere  human  means  or  investigations  ?  Must  we  not 
rather  ever  carefully  draAV  a  line  of  distinction  be- 
tween the  two,  lest  the  objective  enter  the  sphere  of 
subjectiveness,  the  absolutely  true  and  reliable  the 
sphere  of  error,  and  thus  itself  become  the  subjective, 
the  unreliable,  the  unsafe  ? 

However  worthy  of  regard  sentiments  expressing 
themselves  in  such  fears  may  be  under  the  circum- 
stances, still  there  underlies  them  a  certain  weakness 
of  faith,  and  also  a  slight  consciousness  of  this 
weakness.  For  assuredly  that  is  not  the  true  faith, 
that  overcometh  the  world,  which  fears  science  and 
dares  not  look  it  full  in  the  face.  Such  a  faith  is  far 
from  that  stability  and  assurance,  that  holy  boldness 
which  characterizes  the  champions  of  faith.  True, 
it  is  not  to  be  concealed  that  faith,  should  it  enter 
into  such  a  proposed  alliance  w^th  human  science, 
would  be  exposed  to  many  dangers,  which  otherwise 
it  might  perhaps  avoid.  It  would  be  forced  to  self- 
distrust,  and  to  relinquish  to  some  extent  its  self- 
complacent  claims  of  directness  and  infallibility; 
it  must  leave  the  safe  harbor  of  repose,  and  entrust 
its  precious  bark  to  unknown  seas.  It  is  not  impos- 
sible that  the  vessel  might  be  engulphed  in  the  wild 
waves  of  doubt,  shattered  upon  the  cliffs  of  know- 
ledge, or  stranded  on  the  sand-bars  of  speculation 
JSTevertheless,  faith  is  ever  endowed  with  a  divine 
energy ;  the  bark,  however  weak  it  may  appear,  is 
possessed  of  an  anchor  capable  of  withstanding  the 
most  tempestuous   surges,  a  compass  which   never 


36  THEOLOGY    AND 

varies,  and  there  is  besides  One  within  the  vessel 
who  rebukes  the  w^ind  and  says  unto  the  sea,  ^'Peace, 
he  still."  ^  He  also  calls  to  us  and  says :  "  WJit/  are  ye 
so  fearful  f  Hoiv  is  it  that  ye  have  no  faith  "^"^  Danger 
exists  only  where  we  avail  not  ourselves  of  this 
Divine  strength  or  succor.  If  we,  like  the  unprofit- 
able servant,  lest  we  lose  the  talent  committed  to  us, 
hide  it  in  the  earth,  and  then  in  the  day  of  reckoning 
like  him,  boldly  approach  our  Lord  with  the  words : 
^'Z-o,  there  thou  hast  that  is  thine," ^  let  us  beware  lest  a 
like  sentence  be  also  pronounced  upon  us. 

And  wherefore  this  over-wrought  fear  lest  the 
objective,  the  Divine,  derive  from  man  a  subjective 
character  or  coloring?  Is  then  the  subjective,  in 
itself,  necessarily  erroneous  and  unreliable?  Has  not 
also  subjectivity  its  sacred,  its  inahenable  rights? 
And  is  there  in  general  any  human  knowledge, 
desire  or  emotion,  wdiich  does  not  proceed  from  or 
pass  through  the  sphere  of  the  subjective  ?  Was  not 
the  objective  truth  of  the  Scriptures  subjectively  im- 
parted, passing  through  and  deriving  a  coloring 
from  the  peculiarities  of  the  human  mind  ?  Does 
not  the  preaching  or  writing  of  a  Paul  or  a  James, 
of  a  Peter  or  a  John,  bear  the  clear  impress  of  sub- 
jectivity— true,  of  a  sublime  and  exalted,  of  a  holy 
and  sanctified,  of  a  strengthened  and  vigorous  sub- 
jectivity? True  enough,  the  Bible  furnishes  us  with 
the  objective  truth  in  all  its  fulness ;  but  this,  not  in 
its  separate  sentences  and  divisions,  but  in  its  whole 
scope  or  conception,  in  the  unity  of  its  prismatico- 

1  Mark  4  :  39.  ^  i>^;a    ^^  40.  3  j^i^tt.  25  :  25. 


NATUrwVLSCIENCE.  37 

subjective  rays.  Take  away  subjectivity  from  tlie 
Bible,  and  you  either  put  the  Bible  far  away  from 
yourself,  or  stand  aloof  from  it, — your  faith  becomes 
a  mere  bUnd  faith,  a  dead,  worthless  thing.  It  is  no 
longer  a  Divine  poAver,  purifying,  restoring  and 
thoroughly  strengthening  you. 

Far  be  it  from  us  to  seek  for  the  subjective,  a 
boundless  sway  in  the  sphere  of  religion.  For  by  so 
doing  we  should  blindly  turn  our  weapons  against 
ourselves,  and  the  holy  kingdom  of  God,  to  guard, 
protect  and  serve  which,  we  deem  our  most  sacred 
duty.  We  acknowledge  and  revere  the  Scriptures 
as  the  only  infallible  source  of  all  religious  truth,  as 
the  canon  of  judgment  in  all  matters  of  religion  ; 
yea,  further,  we  acknowledge  and  revere  the  Church 
as  a  firm  barrier  against  all  arbitrary  explanation  or 
interpretation  of  the  written  word ;  as  a  basis  ujyon 
which  we  are  called  to  build  a  store-house  of  true 
and  sacred  knowledge,  increasing  in  extent  and 
purity  Avitli  the  progress  of  each  century.  There 
is,  indeed,  much  truth  in  the  favorite  proverb : 
^'the  history  of  the  world  is  the  judgment  of  the 
world,"  but  much  more  comprehensive  and  incon- 
testable is  the  truth,  that  the  history  of  the  Church 
of  Christ,  in  its  developments,  is  a  judgment  upon 
private  interpretation  or  views  which  have  spread 
abroad  in  the  Church.  It  is  a  purifying  fire  in  which 
all  the  dross  of  erroneous  apprehensions,  to  which 
the  most  honest  and  truth-loving  subjectivity  is 
inevitably  exposed,  shall  be  fully  separated,  so  that 
at  last  only  the  refined  gold  of  pure  doctrine  may 
remain  as  a  basis  for  future  development;  for  we 
4 


55  THEOLOGY    AND 

believe,  in  accordance  with  the  Divine  promise,  in  a 
powerful  presence  and  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
in  the  Church,  which  is  ever  victorious.  But  at  the 
same  time  it  is  not  to  be  forgotten, that  all  the  ob- 
jective, truths  of  the  Church  have  proceeded  from 
efforts  and  investigations  in  the  sphere  of  the  sub- 
jective from  human  knowledge,  Divinely  blessed. 
Eor  example,  those  were  primarily  subjective  views 
which  noble  and  highly  gifted  men,  such  as  Atha- 
nasius,  Augustine,  and  the  like,  spoke,  impelled  by 
the  deepest  personal  necessity  of  their  life  and  know- 
ledge ;  but  it  was  the  victorious  power  of  indwelling 
truth,  and  the  invisible  influence  of  the  spirit  of  God, 
which  imparted  to  their  views  objective  validity  and 
worth  in  respect  to  the  Church. 

But  those  parts  of  religious  knowledge  which  here 
concern  us,  are,  in  part,  precisely  such  as  the  Church 
in  her  wisdom  has  not  heretofore  given  a  place  in 
the  sphere  of  the  objective,  and  are  most  likely  also, 
in  part,  such  as  must  forever  be  excluded  therefrom. 
There  is  a  ^'  dark  side  of  Natural  Science,'"  of  which 
a  sage  of  the  present  day  has  given  us  profound  and 
interesting  "  vimvs  ;"  there  is  also,  no  less,  a  dark  side 
of  the  science  of  revelation,  which  in  part  coincides 
with  the  former.  To  the  dark  side  of  the  latter 
pertain  all  those  matters  which  are  not  lighted  up 
by  the  rays  of  a  clear  mid-day  sun,  but  mysteriously 
appear  only  slightly  unveiled  beneath  the  glimmer- 
ing of  distant  stars;  but  which  are  destined,  when 
night  with  her  enshrouding  shadows  departs,  and 
day  draws  on  apace,  to  stand  forth  in  the  clearest 
and  most  satisfactory  light.     Only  for  such  parts  of 


NATURAL    SCIENCE.  39 

religious  knowledge  do  we  claim  the  right  of  suh- 
jective  views,  only  in  such  cases  do  we  allow  our- 
selves to  seek  the  lights  of  natural  science,  in  order 
to  see  if  thus  the  subject  may  not  stand  forth  more 
clearly,  in  more  definite  outline,  just  as,  conversely, 
w^e  would  apply  the  lights  of  revelation  to  the  dark 
side  of  natural  science. 

The  results  of  scientific  research  have  arrived  at 
this  point — thej^  have  acquired  for  themselves  a  posi- 
tion and  acknowledgment  by  the  side  of  religious 
truths.  But  the  human  mind  is  no  abstract,  dead 
framework  or  receptacle,  in  which  the  human  and 
the  Divine,  each  by  itself,  may  be  laid  up  and  pre- 
served, so  that  they  should  not  mutually  touch  or 
pervade  each  other,  and  be  united.  The  mind  is  an 
indivisible  whole,  a  living  unity ;  every  effort  or 
action  demands  the  whole  mind;  all  new  knowledge 
which  it  receives  thoroughly  pervades  it,  and  most 
intimately  unites  itself  with  the  system  of  knowledge 
which  is  already  possessed ;  and  w^herever  this  union 
is  not  possible,  previous  acquirements  must  either  be 
yielded  up,  or  the  new  must  be  denied  admission. 
"  It  is  the  mission  of  faith  to  unite  all  with  itself  and 
pervade  it  with  its  own  spirit ;  to  lend  to  all  a  pure, 
religious  and  sacred  character,  and  especially  to 
mould,  as  it  were,  all  science  into  Theology.  And, 
on  the  other  hand,  it  belongs  to  the  nature  of  a  firm 
scientific  conviction,  that  it  cannot  abide  the  presence 
of  any  religious  conviction  or  belief,  unless  it  be 
fully  conscious  of  a  true  and  full  agreement  between 
the  two."^     This  is  especially  the  case,  however,  in 

*  Lange,  Das  Land  der  Ilerlichkeit,  p.  6. 


40  T  II  E  0  L  0  a  Y    A  N  D 

regard  to  tlie  inductive  sciences.  There  is  inherent 
in  them,  as  experience  has  sufficiently  taught  us,  a 
power  of  conviction  which  may  even  endanger  the 
authoritative  chiims  of  faith.  It  was  upon  this  power 
that  Dr.  David  Strauss  relied,  and  assuredly  he  did 
not  mistake  as  to  the  power  itself,  when  he  dared  in 
his  "  Glauhenslehre,''  to  oppose  to  revelation,  a  hand- 
ful of  sorry  invalid  troops,  enlisted  from  the  lazar- 
houses  of  Astrononi}',  Geology  and  Anthropology, 
and  with  incomparable  assurance,  attempted  to  per- 
suade the  public  that  they  were  a  youthful,  vigorous 
and  insurmountable  host.  —  Shall  we  look  u]3on  such 
scenes  and  fold  our  hands  in  inglorious  ease  ?  Shall 
science  offer  us  in  vain  its  blooming,  youthful  ener- 
gies, for  our  protection  and  defence  ?  Has  not  the 
saying :  The  children  of  this  world  are  wiser  in  their 
generation  than  the  children  oflight,^  been  long  enough 
written  for  us  to  have  learned  the  lesson  it  would 
teach  ? 

Let  us  not  be  misunderstood.  We  by  no  means 
desire  to  see  Theology  beg  its  daily  bread  at  the 
door  of  ITatural  Science,  while  it  possesses  at  home 
the  richest  supplies  of  heavenly  manna :  nor  do  we 
desire  to  see  it,  as  the  Athenian,  ever  eager  to  see  or 
hear  some  new  thing,  whilst  the  Bible  freely  offers 
its  precious  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge — • 
treasures  ever  fresh  and  new,  and  which  can  never 
be  fiithomed  or  exhausted.  Neither  do  we  wish  it 
to  imitate  the  example  of  the  children  of  Israel  in 
--following  after  the  gods  of  the  Canaanites,  burning 

'  Luke  16  :    8. 


NATURAL     SCIENCE.  41 

incense  in  every  grove,  and  sacrificing  upon  every 
hill ;  whilst  the  quiet,  delightful  service  of  the  God 
of  Abraham,  beckoned  them  to  come  to  His  courts ; 
whilst  the  wondrous  love  and  grace  of  Jehovah 
claimed  their  praise  and  adoration.  But  we  desire 
that  it  should  freely  adapt  to  itself  and  apply  to  the 
glory  of  God,  as  well  as  to  the  advancement  of  the 
human  mind,  destined  to  find  its  end  in  Him,  all 
that  true  science  has  acquired  in  its  eager  eftbrts 
after  truth,  in  its  untiring  search  for  knowledge. 
We  rely  upon  the  unfailing  power  and  life  inherent 
in  Divine  truth,  to  separate  and  cast  ofi*  just  as  does 
the  living  organism,  foreign  and  uuappropriable 
matter,  all  error  or  falsehood  which  may  insinuate 
itself  along  with  truth.  We  desire  that  the  vision 
of  Theology  should  be  rendered  clear  by  the  lamp 
of  the  Divine  Word,  so  that  it  may  discern  gifts  and 
spirits,^  and  not  inconsiderately  admit  whatever  is 
obtruded  upon  its  attention. 

'  1  Cor.  12  :  10. 


CHAPTER   SECOND. 

THE    DEISTIC    AND     PANTHEISTIC    THEORIES 
OF    THE    WORLD. 

Two  antagonistic  extremes  in  the  province  of  re- 
ligion, are  to  be  met  with  in  all  ages  of  the  world ; 
and  especially  in  our  ow^n  times  —  Deism  and  Pan- 
theism. The  grand  point  of  conflict  between  these 
two  religious  tendencies  is,  as  is  well  known,  the 
relation  of  God  to  the  w^orld.  The  former  acknow- 
ledges only  a  flir-distant  God,  wdiose  infinite  great- 
ness prevents  him  from  stooping  to  regard  every 
little  circumstance  in  the  world,  and  renders  it  ne- 
cessary that  he  should  commit  the  preservation  and 
government  of  the  w^orld  to  the  so-called  laws  of 
nature.  The  latter  recognizes  only  a  God  near  at 
hand  and  in  the  world,  who  hves  in  and  shares  his 
life  with  all  things,  who  unfolds  himself  in  a  blade 
of  grass,  who  finds  his  highest  development  in  the 
mind  of  man,  and  wdiose  life  is  the  life  of  nature, 
apart  from  which  it  has  no  existence.  Both  these 
tendencies  or  views  are,  when  opposed  to  each  other, 
in  the  right;  for  each  one  has  at  its  foundation  a 
deep  religious  necessity,  of  which  its  antagonist  is 
■svholly  unconscious.  But  both  are,  when  opposed 
to  Christianity,  in  error;  as  the  latter  unites  in  a 
most  comprehensive  system  the  elements  of  truth 
contained  in  these  antagonistic  views,  and  yet  shuns 
their  one-sided  features.    We  shall  employ  the  tenxis 

(42) 


DEISM     AND     PANTHEISM.  43 

Deistic  and  Pantheistic  to  designate  the  false  theo- 
ries of  the  world  to  which  these  extreme  and  one- 
sided views  have  mutually  given  rise.  To  these  we 
will  then  oppose  the  Biblical  theorj^  of  the  world, 
together  with  the  results  and  views  of  modern  as- 
tronomy, which  serve  to  exj^lain  and  establish  that 
theory. 

Let  us  first  notice  the  arguments  in  support  of  the 
Deistic  theory  of  the  world.  This  theory,  which 
claims  to  be  "par  excellence"  the  learned  one,  has 
in  modern  times  borrowed  the  weapons  with  which 
it  attacks  the  inspired  word  of  God,  chiefly  from  the 
armory  of  natural  science.  That  its  weapons  thus 
acquired  are  not  ahvays  those  of  the  keenest  edge, 
and  that  it  has  been  forced  to  content  itself,  amid 
others,  with  some  very  blunt,  inferior,  and  unservice- 
able ones,  will  be  seen  as  we  proceed. 

It  is  maintained  that  ever  since  the  earth  has,  by 
the  reception  of  the  Copernican  system,  been  low- 
ered from  its  proud  imaginary  height  as  the  throne 
and  centre  of  the  universe,  to  the  low  and  servile 
position  of  a  mere  satellite  to  one  of  the  most  insig- 
nificant suns,  the  Biblical  theory  of  the  world  must 
be  looked  upon  as  antiquated  and  exploded.  Tor 
the  planets  of  our  solar  system  are  worlds  like  our 
earth,  and  are  doubtless  like  it  inhabited.  All  the 
millions  of  fLxed  stars  in  the  Milky  Way,  are  suns 
like  ours,  many  of  them  vastly  Larger  and  more 
magnificent  than  it,  and  like  it,  encircled  by  moons, 
planets,  and  comets.  And  those  nebulous  spots, 
visible  only  through  the  telescope,  are  new  systems 
of  Milky  Ways,  whose  resolution  into  millions  of 


44  DEISM    AND    PANTHEISM. 

stars  is  prevented  only  by  a  distance  which  mocks 
the  powers  of  our  best  instruments.  Sir  W.  Iler- 
schel,  even  in  his  day,  counted  about  3000  such  ne- 
bula ;  and  how  many  thousands  may  still  lie  hidden 
in  the  depths  of  space,  beyond  the  reach  of  the  best 
instruments  of  the  present  day  !  As  far  as  the  eye 
can  penetrate,  we  see  planets  revolving  about  suns, 
carrying  their  satellites  with  them.  But  the  sun 
also,  and  the  fixed  stars,  of  a  like  nature  with  it,  are 
moving  in  a  direction  probably  common  to  them  all. 
Perhaps  all  these  bodies,  with  their  accompanying 
planets,  moons,  and  comets  —  bound  together  under 
the  influence  of  the  powerful  laws  of  attraction  and 
gravitation  —  are  sweeping  in  wide  and  majestic 
orbits,  round  a  mighty,  all-controlling  central  sun, 
far  withdrawn  from  the  reach  of  the  eye  or  the  tele- 
scope. Such  a  harmony  of  movement  must  also  be 
assumed  as  most  probabl}^  existing  in  all  the  systems 
of  Milky  Ways.  But,  though  the  human  mind 
survey  systems  so  vast  in  scope,  all  is  not  yet  ex- 
hausted, no  end  of  worlds  is  yet  to  be  found.  How 
then  shall  this  little  spot,  earth,  dare,  in  heaven- 
defying  boldness,  to  oppose  itself  to  the  whole  uni- 
verse, of  which  it  appears  the  most  paltry  and  in- 
significant speck?  Who  can  persuade  himself  to 
believe  that  all  these  millions  of  worlds  are  so  in- 
significant, that  the  Creator  spent  but  a  single  day 
in  their  creation,  while  the  superior  value  of  our 
earth  demanded  five  days  of  his  time  ?  And  when 
Ave  remember  that  light,  with  the  astonishing  ve- 
locity of  192,000  miles  in  a  second,  is  from  nine  to 
twelve  years  in  reaching  us  from  the  nearest  fixed 


DEISM    AND     PANTHEISM.  45 

star,  aircl  that  Ilerscliel  could  distinguisli  by  means 
of  Lis  colossal  telescope,  stars  still  one  thousand 
times  more  distant,  whose  light  must  travel  for  9000 
years  before  striking  our  retina  —  when  we  reflect 
that,  according  to  the  computations  of  that  great 
astronomer,  many  nebuloo  are  300,000  times  further 
distant  from  us  than  the  stars  by  which  we  are  im- 
mediately encompassed,  and  that  not  until  it  had 
swept  through  space  for  about  3,000,000  of  years, 
could  their  light  reacli  our  eyes — how  can  the  asser- 
tion, that  all  these  bodies  and  systems  were  created 
with  our  earth,  some  6000  ^^ears  ago,  maintain  its 
ground?  Who  can  be  so  devoid  of  reason  as  to 
imagine  that  all  tlie  countless  and  immeasurable 
w^orlds  of  the  firmament,  have  been  placed  there  for 
the  service  of  this  atom,  earth ;  to  adorn  its  nights, 
or  in  addition,  perhaps,  to  exercise  the  astrological 
faculties  of  its  inhabitants  ?  Yea,  who  can  believe 
what  is  incredible,  that  the  Creator  of  all  these  sys- 
tems of  worlds  should  have  condescended  as  a  child, 
to  speak  with  the  children  of  men  ?  and  more,  not 
only  to  take  upon  himself  human  nature,  of  earthly 
origin,  but  also  take  that  nature  ivith  him  into  eter- 
nity, into  blessedness.  Thus,  then,  as  a  writer  who 
has  set  himself  up  as  the  representative  of  the  Deistic 
tendency,  has  assured  us  again  and  again,^  since  the 
Ptolemaic  system  has  been  overthrown,  all  the  funda- 
mental doctrines  of  Christianity,  such  as  those  touch- 
ing the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God,  his  atone- 
ment, his  ascension  to  heaven  and  his  future  advent, 

'  Compare  Bretsclmeider,  Sendschreiben  an  einen  Staatsmann, 
p.  70. 


46  DEISM    AND    PANTHEISM. 

the  doctrines  of  a  resurrection  and  a  judgment,  of  a 
heaven  and  a  hell  —  all  these  fall  to  the  ground  as 
the  playhouses  of  children  are  overthrown  by  a 
storm. 

It  is  not  to  be  so  confidently  affirmed,  however, 
that  the  triumph  of  the  heliocentric  doctrine,  as 
such,  furnished  the  occasion  and  served  as  a  signal 
for  such  "en  bas"  clamor;  indeed,  it  is  more  than 
doubtful  that  such  was  the  case.  It  is  certain  at 
least,  that  the  three  greatest  and  most  zealous  cham- 
pions of  this  doctrine,  and  those  to  whom  it  owes  its 
common  and  intelligent  reception  among  men,  most 
strenuously  protested  against  the  honor  attempted 
to  be  heaped  upon  themselves,  of  having  by  their 
teachings  detracted  from  the  validity  and  authority 
of  those  doctrines  of  the  Scriptures ;  for  Copernicus, 
Kepler^  and  Newton,  were  sincere,  believing  Chris- 
tian men,  who  reposed  their  only  hope  in  time  and 
for  eternity  upon  the  truth  of  the  doctrines  of  the 
Bible. ^     But  if,  on  the  other  hand,  we  seek  to  trace 

^  The  Christian  sentiments  of  the  latter  particularly,  are  well 
known  to  the  world,  through  his  posthumous  theological  works. 
The  cause  of  his  enemies  was,  indeed,  sought  to  be  furthered  by 
the  base  report,  that  he  [Newton)  had,  in  the  closing  years  of  his 
life,  fallen  into  a  childish  and  melancholic  state  of  mind.  Some 
even  went  so  far  as  to  commiserate  the  great  man,  that  such  a 
misfortune  should  have  befixllen  him,  and  to  show  quite  a  fair 
amount  of  indignation,  that  any  one  should  have  been  so  unfeel- 
ing as  to  expose  the  decadence  of  so  great  a  mind,  before  all  the 
learned  of  Europe,  by  the  posthumous  publication  of  the  produc- 
tions of  his  childish  old  age.  But  let  us  hear  what  is  said  in  this 
connection  by  the  "  Conversations-lexikon,"  ed.  8,  vol.  8,  p.  321 
(comp.  9th  ed.,  vol.  10,  p.  735)  which  would  be  accused  of  religious 
bias  by  no  one :  "  The  remarks  of  the  philosophers  of  the  18th 


DEISM     AND     PANTIIEISiAI.  47 

tlie  true  pedigree  of  the  presumptive  antagonist  of 
our  Christian  faith ;  Copernicus,  Kepler  and  Neioton, 
deny  all  relationship  with  it ;  perhaps  Shafte&hury ^ 
Tola7id,  and  Tindal,  would  not  be  so  modest. 

AYe  are  certainly  not  in  error  wdien  w^e  assert  that 
just  here  lies  a  self-deception,  wdiich  we  have  met 
too  often  to  be  ignorant  of  it.  Two  plants  may 
draw  their  nourishment  from  the  same  soil,  and  yet 
their  fruits  be  of  entirely  different  kinds.  The 
analogy  of  this  is  to  be  found  in  the  moral  and 
intellectual  world.  The  Hegelian  school  of  philo- 
sophy produced  a  Strauss  and  a  Feuerhach;  but  also 
such  men  as  GoscJiel.  Both  parties  proceeded  from 
the  philosophy  of  that  great  thinker,  the  former 
using  it  as  an  instrument  to  overthrow  all  Scriptural 
belief,  the  latter  drawing  from  it  the  strongest  sup- 
century,  touching  the  disorder  of  Pascal's  mind,  are  founded 
upon  the  same  false  basis  as  the  report  of  Newton's  mental 
calamity.  The  Christian  sentiments  of  the  one  as  well  as  the 
other,  being  of  a  decided  and  open  character,  when  denial  of  the 
fact  would  no  longer  answer,  it  was  attempted  to  account  for  it 
through  mental  unsoundness.  Chronology  furnishes  a  complete 
refutation  to  all  such  ungracious  charges."  Newton's  theological 
writings  owe  their  origin  to  the  bloom  of  his  manhood.  As  to 
Kepler,  comp.  his  life,  by  BreitscJnvert,  1831,  and  the  notice  of 
the  same  by  Tholuck,  in  his  vermischten  Schriften,  II,  p.  384-402. 
As  to  the  religious  sentiments  of  Copernicus,  it  is  sufficient  here 
to  quote  the  epitaph,  which  may  yet  be  read  upon  his  monument, 
in  the  "  Johaimeskirche,''  in  Thorn,  and  which  was  conceived  by 
himself  for  the  purpose  it  now  serves :  — 

"Non  parem  Pauli  gratiam  require, 
Yeniam  Petri  non  posco,  sed  quam 
In  crucis  ligno  dederas  latroni 
Sedulus  oro.'^ 


48  D  E  I  S  JI     AND     PANTHEISM. 

port   for   the    Christian   faith.     Bat   how  are  these 
diiferences  to  be  explained  ? 

In  the  one  case  as  well  as  in  the  other,  that  which 
appears  as  the  last  was  the  first :  the  cause  appears 
as  the  consequence.  The  same  will  apply  to  the 
theory  of  the  world.  The  Deistic  theorj^,  which 
Avould  fain  be  regarded  as  the  consequence  of  the 
Copernican  system,  was  first  in  point  of  time.  'Not 
until  man  had  succeeded  in  barring  out  from  his 
creation,  the  living  God,  whose  almighty  word  up- 
holds as  well  the  tiny  atom  as  the  huge  globe,  and 
had  relieved  him  from  the  cares  of  the  world  in  a 
"  dolce  far  niente"  —  not  until  man  was  willincr  to 
acknowledge  the  infinite  only,  while  he  denied  that 
He  took  finite  nature  upon  himself,  was  he  able  to 
regard  the  universe  as  a  machine;  and  to  praise  as 
highly  sublime  and  alone  worthy  of  the  Infinite 
Being,  that  monstrous,  or  as  jPr.  Baader  calls  it, 
"tedious"  idea  of  the  heavens,  as  an  endless,  mono- 
tonous repetition  of  suns,  planets,  and  moons,  with 
their  inhabitants,  "tout  conime  chez  nous."  Thus 
in  a  convenient  yet  noble  manner  would  man  free 
himself  from  all  belief  in  an  incarnate  God,  and 
from  all  the  uncomfortable  attendants  of  such  a 
belief.  Starting  out  from  the  heliocentric  theory, 
which  well  deserves  the  reception  it  has  received, 
but  forgetting  that  in  the  sphere  of  spirit  other  laws 
obtain  than  those  of  mere  magnitude  and  distance ; 
and  that,  notAvithstanding  the  correctness  of  that 
theory,  the  earth  in  another — in  a  religious — respect, 
may  be  a  central  and  important  point  in  the  universe, 
man  fell  to  heaping  worlds  upon  worlds,  and  solar 


DEISM    AND     PANTHEISM.  49 

systems  upon  solar  systems,  taking  away  in  geomet- 
rical progression  from '  the  religious  significance  of 
the  earth,  just  as  he  swelled  the  number  and  magni- 
tude of  the  systems  scattered  through  space.  From 
Sirius,  the  earth  appeared  as  scarcely  worth  naming, 
and  by  the  time  the  nebulie  were  reached,  it  had 
entirely  vanished.  When  the  mind  became  giddy 
amid  those  infinite  heights,  and  the  heart  felt  over- 
wlielmed,  desolate  and  forsaken,  that  w^as  called 
devotion  !  The  prodigious  discoveries  of  the  cele- 
brated W.  Herschel,  completed  the  vast  and  dreary 
prospect ;  but  he  himself,  though  retaining  as  much 
as  was  possible  the  prevailing  notions  of  his  age, 
found  it  necessary,  gradually,  to  give  them  up,  as  he 
made  an  increase  in  discoveries  not  in  harmony 
with  those  fundamental  notions.  But  to  Gr.  IT,  von 
Schuhert  especially,  belongs  the  praise  of  having  (in 
his  ingenious  work,  Die  Urwelt  und  die  Fixsterne) 
followed  out  in  an  independent  manner,  the  path 
trodden  by  Herschel,  and  "  given  the  old  song  new 
words ;"  while  he  pointed  out  the  way  to  more  pro- 
found and  comprehensive  views,  according  to  which 
our  little  earth,  together  with  the  breathing  dust 
which  inhabits  it,  may  boldly  and  significantly 
oppose  itself  to  the  huge  masses  of  all  the  worlds." 
Directh^  opposed  to  the  theory  of  the  world  we 
have  just  been  considering,  is  another,  which  recently 
has  been  seeking  to  gain  prominence  in  the  world, 
and  to  which  from  the  Biblical  stand-point,  we  are 
compelled  to  offer  no  less  decided  objections.  We 
shall  call  it,  both  from  its  basis  and  its  nature,  the 
Pantheistic  theory. 
5 


50  DEISM    AND     PANTHEISM. 

The  former  tlieory  ovcr-valoes  the  results  of  astro- 
nomy, and  claims  too  much  for  that  science ;  the 
latter  contemns  or  ignores  both  the  science  and  its 
results.  The  former  is  governed  by  a  religious,  or 
rather,  an  irreligious  motive ;  the  latter  equally  so. 
There  the  heavens  are  over-estimated ;  here  the 
earth.  In  the  one  case  the  earth,  when  opposed  to 
the  universe,  vanishes  entirely ;  in  the  other,  the 
universe  retreats  into  the  back-ground  before  the 
si2:nificance  of  the  earth.  The  one  loses  itself  in  an 
imaginary  infinity  of  worlds;  the  other  feels  at  home 
and  comfortable,  only  when  upon  its  own  earth,  and 
devours  a  whole  heaven  of  heavens  at  one  specula- 
tive meal.  The  one  delights  to  represent  the  earth 
and  its  inhabitants  as  small  and  insignificant  as  may 
be,  so  that  the  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth  need  have 
but  little  care  for  his  creatures;  and  man  have  the 
consciousness  of  being  but  little  regarded  by  Him 
whose  eyes  are  as  a  flaming  fire,  and  who  trieth  the 
hearts  and  the  reins.  The  other  delights  to  cele- 
brate the  deification  of  the  human  mind  as  the  only 
and  highest  soul  of  the  world,  and  thus  add  a  signi- 
ficant page  to  the  glory  of  man.  The  approach  of 
the  venerable  Copernicus,  is,  under  such  circum- 
stances, very  inopportune;  and  the  sublime  views 
of  a  Ilerschel,  a  Bessel,  a  Strvne,  and  a  Madler,  are 
exceedingly  annoying.  Hence  the  results  of  sublime 
and  laborious  research  are  persistently  ignored,  and 
man  chooses  rather  to  interpret  the  w^orld  "  a  priori." 
.  The  Pantheistic  theory  of  the  world  stands  in  just 
as  glaring  contradiction  to  the  peculiar  doctrines  of 
Christianity,    as   does   its   antagonistic   theory,   the 


DEISM    AND     PANTHEISM.  51 

Deistic  one.  The  one  so  peoples  the  universe,  that 
it  is  impossible  that  the  blessed  God  should  become 
man ;  and  thus  wholly  avoids  Christianity.  The 
other  so  depopulates  it  that  man  alone  is  God ;  that 
is,  the  highest  unfolding  or  manifestation  of  Deity. 
The  teachings  of  the  Bible  in  regard  to  an  incarnate 
God,  are  well  enough,  so  long  as  they  heap  honor 
upon  man ;  so  long  as  they  are  regarded  as  involun- 
tary 23rophetic  intimations,  in  which  the  Divine  self- 
consciousness  of  humanity  begins  to  dawn ;  so  long 
as  they  constitute  a  bold  fiction,  in  which  the  soul 
of  the  world  unconsciously  shadows  forth  the  history 
of  its  own  development.  Thus  are  sin  and  redemp- 
tion, personality  and  immortality,  the  resurrection 
and  judgment,  heaven  and  hell,  all  at  once,  and 
without  effort,  done  away  with.  The  earth  alone  is 
the  place  where  God  reveals  himself,  the  favored 
spot  of  his  highest  manifestation ;  beyond  it  no 
trace  of  spirit  is  to  be  found;  and  he  must  be  a  child 
or  an  idiot  wdio  would  seek  for  reasonable  beings, 
spirits  and  angels,  beyond  this  world. 

Deism,  however,  is  still  content  to  believe  in  the 
existence  of  angels — its  vision  is  unclouded,  so  long 
as  we  keep  at  a  distance  with  those  abortions  of  a 
gloomy  superstition :  sucli  as  fallen  angels,  spirits 
of  the  abyss,  and  princes  of  darkness.  Yea,  it  even 
flatters  its  disciples,  with  the  confident  expectation, 
tliat  they  who  are  here,  "half  beast,  half  angel," 
shall,  so  soon  as  they  have  "  shufiled  ofi"  this  mortal 
coil,"  their  animal  nature,  become  complete  angels, 
and  be  permitted,  with  powers  of  infinite  perfecti- 
bility, to  rove  at  will  through  the  immensity  of 


52  DEISM    AND     PANTHEISM. 

creation,  gathering  fresh  acquisitions  and  new  de- 
lights in  each  world.  Pantheism,  indeed,  does  not 
beguile  itself  with  any  such  childish  hopes  and  fan- 
tastic dreams ;  but  it  also  looks  upon  all  the  Bible 
has  to  say  about  celestial  worlds  and  inhabitants  of 
light,  angels  and  champions  of  heaven,  dominions, 
principalities,  and  powers,  as  mere  silly  childish 
legends. 

Therefore,  in  order  that  the  stars  of  tlie  firmament 
be  not  wholly  useless,  they  are  made  to  serve  as  gas- 
lights at  large,  whose  only  purpose  is  to  light  up  the 
birth-place  of  an  ever-unfolding  God ;  to  deck  a 
brilliant  saloon  in  which  the  human  mind  may  dis- 
port itself,  and  from  whose  countless  glittering 
mirrors  man  may  see  the  reflection  of  his  own  glory; 
and  lest  he  lose  himself  therein,  this  showy  saloon 
must  be  of  only  a  moderate  size  and  capacity.  With 
all  this,  however,  the  Pantheistic  theory  arrives  at 
such  an  impious  denial  of  the  true  God,  or  indeed  a 
God  at  all,  that  Deism  looks  fair  and  religious,  com- 
pared with  it.^ 

'  It  is  Michelet  who  (in  his  Vorlesimgen  uber  die  PersoaUclilceit 
Gottcs  unci  die  Unsterhlichkeit  der  Seele  oder  die  ewige  Persotdich- 
keii  des  Geisies,  Berlin,  1841)  has  most  perspicuously  and  unre- 
servedly advanced  this  theory  of  the  world.  The  stars  are  to 
him,  ^'  nothing  further  than  hare  rocks  of  light  scattered  throughout 
the  seas  of  the  heavens  (p.  227),  and  the  whole  idea  of  the  starry 
heavens  represents  merely  "  that  of  abstract,  unchangeable  dura- 
tion, as  the  vague,  lifeless  manifestation  or  image  of  eternity"  (p. 
228).  "  The  earth  surpasses  the  sun  in  dignity,"  and  "  it  is  evi- 
dent beyond  contradiction,  that  the  highest  and  most  complete 
manifestations  in  sidereal  nature,  are  not  to  be  sought  beyond  the 
sphere  of  our  own  planet,  and  no  less,  that  no  trace  of  spiritual 


DEISM    AND     PANTHEISM.  53 

Thus,  then,  is  there  a  complete  antagonism  be- 
tween Deism  and  Pantheism,  in  all  their  funda- 
mental views ;  and  that  portion  of  Divine  truth 
which  one  receives — in  the  one  case,  of  a  God  with- 
out and  beyond  the  world ;  in  the  other,  of  a  God 
within  and  about  the  world  —  that  portion  of  truth 
is  an  exceedingly  bitter  draught  for  the  other.  Such 
fundamentally  different  views  have  not  failed  to 
ffive  rise  to  fierce  collisions  and  conflicts  between 
these   parties,   in   which   vehemence,   passion,   and 

life  is  to  be  found  apart  from  this  same  terrestrial  world"  (p.  230) 
and  like  instances.  It  will  be  no  matter  of  surprise,  after  what 
we  have  already  said  of  Deism  and  Pantheism,  that  such  a 
thoroughly  Pantheistic  theory  of  the  world  should  sympathize 
in  some  points  with  the  true  Christian  theory  nevertheless.  Thus, 
we  find  expressions  of  Michelet  himself,  to  which,  from  the 
Biblical  stand-point,  we  can  subscribe,  and  which  we  can  also 
defend,  as,  for  example,  when  he  asserts  "  that  the  earth,  if  not 
the  sensible,  is  at  least  the  spiritual  centre  of  the  system  ;"  or 
when  he  says :  "  The  extent  of  the  space  is  a  matter  of  no  moment 
for  the  revelations  or  workings  of  Spirit,  which  often  delights 
in  crowding  the  greatest  wonders  in  the  least  amount  of  space." 
But  also  modern  philosophy  in  general,  even  where  it  has  not  yet 
strayed  into  open  or  virtual  Pantheism,  has  all  along  shown  an 
evident  desire  to  detract  as  much  as  possible  from  the  significance 
of  the  heavens  in  opposition  to  that  of  the  earth.  Comp.  Schel- 
ling's  Sendschr.  an  Eschenmayer,  in  der  Zeitschr.  von  Deutsclien 
und  fur  Deutsclie,  1812,  and  Hegel's  ScMusshemerlaing  zu  der 
Kosmologie  des  Anaximander,  in  his  Gesch.  der  PJiilos.,  p.  207. 
The  latter  aims  directly,  among  other  things,  at  showing  the 
modern  view  of  the  vastness  and  infinity  of  the  stellar  worlds,  to 
be  a  laughable  and  absurd  fancy  of  narrow  minds,  as  for  ex- 
ample, when  he  would  designate  them  to  be  "  merely  a  luminous 
eruption,  no  more  to  he  wondered  at  tlian  an  eruption  upon  the 
human  sA-in,  or  tlian  swarms  ofjiies^'  ( Vorlesung  iiber  Katurphilos, 
I,  p.  92,  comp.  p.  401). 

5* 


54  DEISM     AND     PANTHEISM. 

niutaal  contempt,  have  been  very  often  exhibited. 
Especially  has  Pantheism  —  as  was  natural  for  it  to 
do,  since  it  is  the  philosophy  of  pride  and  self-exalt- 
ation— cast  the  most  biting  sarcasm  and  bitter  con- 
tempt upon  the  "antediluvian  theologians,"  as  it 
characteristically  designates  its  antagonists,  holding 
itself  to  be  the  flood  which  has  swept  away  all 
rubbish  from  the  province  of  knowledge,  and  re- 
newed the  world  of  reason. 

But  it  w^ould  now  appear  almost  as  if  a  time  of 
peace  was  to  follow  the  fierce  conflicts  between  these 
antagonists ;  and  that  henceforth  they  are  to  be 
allied  in  common  hostility  to  Christianity.  David 
Strauss,  even  in  his  thoroughly  Pantheistic  "  Glau- 
henslehre,'"  has  refrained  from  the  customary  haughty 
and  contemptuous  expressions  of  opposition  to  the 
results  of  natural  science;  and,  taking  his  stand 
beside  Ballenstedt  and  Bretschneider,  has  not  blushed 
in  the  attempt  to  renew  the  old  "hue  and  cry"^  of 
the  champions  of  Deism  —  the  oflspring  of  lament- 
able ignorance,  and  Avant  of  science  on  the  part  of 
the  latter — in  regard  to  an  evident  contradiction  be- 
tween the  sublime  results  of  natural  science  and  the 
absurd  Biblical  histor}^  of  the  creation.  And  as  in 
theor}^,  so  also  in  practice  have  the  Pantheists  of  our 
day,  who  have  heretofore  kept  aloof  and  by  them- 
selves, become  enlisted  in  the  thickly  crowded  bat- 
talions of  the  friends  of  progress  —  formerly  vul- 
garly denominated  Deists  and  Rationalists — in  order 
to  wage  with  them  a  common  warfare  against  the 
Christian  Church. 

^  Gump.  K.  V.  Eaumer,  KreuzzUge,  vol.  I. 


DEISM    AND     PANTHEISM.  55 

The  fact  of  such  an  alliance,  which  at  the  first 
view  seems  so  strange,  may  easily  be  explained, 
however,  on  a  more  careful  consideration  of  the 
circumstances  of  the  case.  Looking  at  the  matter 
in  a  merely  practical  point  of  view,  the  case  is  not  a 
new  one.  Pilate  and  Herod  became  friends;  the 
Pharisees  and  Sadducees  joined  themselves  together. 
Theoretically  considered.  Astronomy  in  particular 
seems  to  be  bringing  about  such  an  alliance. 

Pantheism  is  wholly  unable  to  retain  the  pre- 
tended strong-hold  of  its  ideal  construction  of  the 
universe,  against  the  daily  accumulating  results  of 
astronomy  which  so  irresistibly  besiege  it.  Indeed, 
a  still  larger  share  of  the  most  approved  self-com- 
placency than  has  yet  been  exhibited  by  Pantheism, 
which,  it  must  be  confessed,  has  not  come  behind  in 
this  respect,  is  demanded,  in  order  that  at  the  pre- 
sent day,  and  in  the  face  of  the  wondrous  revelations 
of  astronomy,  the  infinity  of  glittering  worlds  on 
high,  should  be  persistently  accounted  as  "bare 
rocks  of  light  scattered  throughout  the  seas  of  the 
heavens,"  or  even,  as  "the  eruptions"  produced  by 
a  transient  scarlet  fever  of  the  skies.  It  will,  ac- 
cordingly, at  length  be  forced  to  abandon  the  illu- 
sion also,  that  man  is  the  only  manifestation  of  spiri- 
tual life  in  the  universe.  But  this  it  can  well  afford 
to  do,  as  man  will  still  have  the  consolation,  that  he, 
the  philosopher,  stands  alone  as  the  highest  embodi- 
ment of  the  soul  of  the  world  or  universe,  even 
though  the  same  soul,  no  matter,  be  embodied  in  a 
similar  and  befitting  manner  in  the  worlds  on  high. 

But  Deism,  on  the  other  hand,  overthrows  itself 


56  DEISM    AND    PANTHEISM. 

in  its  attempts  to  swell  to  infinity  the  greatness  and 
number  of  the  celestial  worlds,  and  tumbles,  uncon- 
sciously, headlong  into  Pantheism.  Its  grand  and 
only  aim  is  to  get  rid  of  prophecy,  revelation,  mira- 
cles, and  the  fact  of  the  incarnation  upon  the  earth. 
Hence  it  delights  in  piling  suns  upon  suns,  and  sys- 
tems upon  systems  of  Milky  Ways  ;  vainly  imagin- 
ing that  with  each  step  of  its  progress  toward  in- 
finity, the  absurdity  of  giving  credit  to  miracles  and 
revelations  of  the  Bible,  becomes  more  clearly  mani- 
fest. But  so  soon  as  it  has  wrought  itself  up  to  the 
huge  idea  of  the  absolute  infinity  of  creation, 
logical  sequence  of  thought  must  carry  it,  unless 
bounds  be  set  to  logic  just  where  it  begins  to  over- 
turn previous  and  cherished  views,  fully  within  the 
limits  of  Pantheism.  For,  connected  with  the  idea 
of  the  infinity  of  space,  and  of  the  worlds  which  fill 
it,  comes  the  correlative  idea,  hardly  to  be  evaded, 
of  the  eternity  of  time.  But  when  once  we  admit 
the  infinity  of  space  and  the  eternity  of  time,  the 
idea  of  the  creation,  and  along  with  it,  the  idea  of  a 
personal  Creator,  superior  to  both  time  and  space, 
glides  away  from  our  minds  and  leaves  no  trace 
behind. 

It  is  clear  that  a  mutual  approach  and  alliance  on 
the  part  of  two  such  antagonists,  difiering  at  the 
first,  "toto  coelo,"  cannot  take  place  upon  the  basis 
of  the  Scriptural  truth  they  still  respectively  retain 
(in  the  one  case,  that  God  exists  beyond  the  world; 
in  the  other,  that  he  is  present  in  the  world).  'Nay 
rather,  it  is  to  be  efiected  only  by  their  mutually 
giving  up  what  is  peculiarly  in  accordance  with  the 


DEISM    AND    PANTHEISM.  57 

Bible  (in  the  one  case,  the  Scriptural  idea  of  the 
creation;  and  in  the  other,  the  Biblical  view  of  the 
high  and  special  significance  of  man  and  his  history). 

Such,  then,  has  been  the  position  taken  by  astro- 
nomy, or  rather,  the  parasite  speculation  which 
has  attached  itself  thereto,  to  feed  upon  it,  and  con- 
vert all  its  wholesome  lessons  into  hostile  attacks 
against  the  Christian  faith ;  and  that  noble  science 
which  above  all  others  should  be  an  unceasing  song 
of  praise  to  the  glory  of  the  Creator,  has  been  de- 
graded to  the  purpose  of  casting  into  the  dust,  not 
only  the  precious  jewel  of  Divine  love  and  conde- 
scension, his  incarnation  in  the  person  of  Christ,  but 
also,  the  majestic  crown  of  his  greatness  and  glory, 
his  creative  dignity. 

Let  us  now  inquire  how  theology,  which  has  been 
set  up  as  the  guardian  of  the  dishonored  sanctuary, 
has  regarded  the  results  of  astronomy,  and  also  the 
perversion  and  misuse  of  them  on  the  part  of  Deism 
and  Pantheism. 

It  is  well  known  that  Home  anathematized  the 
system  of  Copernicus,  and  persecuted  it  in  the 
person  of  Galileo ;  nor  is  it  so  very  long  since  that 
system  was  first  allowed  to  be  taught  from  the  pro- 
fessor's chair.  Protestant  theology,  also,  has  barely, 
with  severe  struggles,  overcome  the  religious  difii- 
culties  which  presented  themselves  with  that  system.' 

^  One  of  the  last  reactionary  movements  of  pretended  theologi- 
cal origin,  against  the  triumphing  Copernican  theory,  is  to  be 
noticed  in  a  book  published  in  the  year  1740,  by  Jlensel,  Rector 
of  the  Hirschberg  Gymnasium.  The  significant  title  of  the  work 
runs  thus:  "  Cosmotheoria  hiblica  restaurata ;  or,  The  new  Mosaic 


58  DEISM    AND    PANTHEISM. 

A  secret  reluctance  to  absorb  into  its  theory  of  the 
world,  and  adapt  to  itself,  the  heliocentric  doctine, 
and  the  results  of  later  astronomical  investigations 
generally,  has  propagated  itself  in  the  Christian 
mind,  even  down  to  the  present  day.'^  This  disposi- 
tion, which  is  founded  upon  supposed  irreconcilable 
diiferences  between  the  fiicts  of  science  and  revela- 
tion, is  now  very  rarely  to  be  met  with,  and  is  to  be 
found  prevailing  almost  exclusively  among  certain 
Christian  Gnostics,  who  think  that  they  can  or 
should,  in  the  tranquillity  of  the  Christian  spirit, 
withdraw  themselves  from  the  tumult  and  strife  of 
unsettled  opinions. 

system  of  the  World ;  in  which  it  is  to  be  satisfactorily  proven, 
upon  sacred  and  natural  grounds:  1st,  that  the  earth  stands  still; 
2d,  that  the  sun  moves  ;  3d,  that  the  rapid  movement  of  all  the 
stars  is  not  impossible  or  contrary  to  reason,  but  in  harmony  with 
the  "principles"  of  the  latest  physical  science;  4th,  that  the 
celestial  bodies  are  indeed  of  great  size,  but  not  of  such  im- 
mense magnitude  as  they  are  generally  represented  to  be  in 
modern  times  ;  5th,  that  the  fine  small  planets  have  a  periodical 
revolution  peculiar  to  themselves,  from  which  the  "retrogra- 
datio"  arises  and  may  easily  be  understood ;  together  with  plates 
to  the  praise  of  the  great  Creator,  and  the  defence  of  the  truth, 
designed  for  the  profit  of  all,  but  especially  that  of  youth  engaged 
in  study,  written  by  .  .  .  etc."  But  subsequently,  in  the  year 
1806,  there  was  published  in  Paris :  Mercier  sur  VimpossibULte 
des  systemes  de  Copernic  et  de  Kewton,  (Comp.  Mildler,  astron. 
Briefe,  p.  40). 

'  In  addition  to  the  chief  passage,  Joshua  10  :  12-14,  it  has 
been  attempted  to  show  that  the  following  passages  also,  are  not 
reconcilable  with  the  Copernican  system:  Ps.  93  :  1 ;  96:10; 
104  :  5  ;  Eccles.  1:5;  Is.  34  :  4 ;  Judg.  5  :  20.  It  is  hoped  the 
kind  reader  will  forgive  us  for  not  consumiog  time  to  show,  that 
these  passages  of  Scripture  prove  no  more  in  opposition  to,  than 
in  favor  of,  the  heliocentric  doctrine. 


DEISM    AND    PAIs^TIIEISM.  59 

But  theologians  as  a  whole,  on  the  other  hand, 
have  ceased  to  agitate  the  question  of  a  contradiction 
hetween  theology  and  astronomy.  Whether  they 
have  completely  solved  the  connection  and  relation 
of  these  two  sciences,  i.e.,  brought  their  respective 
theories  of  the  world  into  full  accord,  into  one  har- 
monious whole,  without  constraint  or  diminution  of 
right  on  the  part  of  either  science ;  whether  they 
have  removed  all  difficulties  which  honest  doubt  or 
careless  unbelief  may  have  taken  occasion,  with  or 
without  reason,  to  draw  from  astronomy,  is  a  matter 
not  to  be  so  confidently  affirmed,  however  well  the 
subject  has  been  treated  by  other  pens,^  that  remarks 

'  Comp,  the  writings  of  Fried,  von  Meyer,  pertaining  to  this 
subject,  in  his  Bldttern  fiXr  Iwhere  Wahrheit,  II,  4  seq. ;  IV,  354 
scq.  VIII,  342  seq.; the  small  work  by  J.  P.  Lange,  Das  Land  der 
HerrUchkeit,  written  in  such  a  warm  and  glowing  style ;  further, 
the  work  of  the  brilliant  writer  and  eloquent  English  divine, 
Thos.  Chalmers,  Discourses  on  the  Christian  Revelation,  vieiced  in 
connection  with  Modern  Astronomy  ;  also,  the  treatise  by  T.  Milner, 
another  English  divine,  a  work,  however,  which  has  not  come 
into  our  possession:  Astronomy  and  Scripture,  or  some  illustra- 
tions of  that  science,  and  of  the  solar,  lunar,  stellar,  and  terres- 
trial phenomena  of  Holy  Writ,  London,  1843.  Comp.  also,  the 
profound  work  of  E.  A.  von  Schaden,  Theodicee,  vol.  I.  (under  the 
special  title,  Orion,  oder  uher  den  Bau  des  Eimmels),  Carlsr.  1842, 
in  which  he  attempts  to  represent  the  Christian  and  the  Astro- 
nomical theories  of  the  world  in  absolute  harmony,  by  giving 
them  both  a  more  profound  cast ;  a  book,  however,  of  which  we 
are  sorry  to  say,  that  we  have  not  been  able  to  adopt  its  profound 
speculativo-gnostic  views :  and  finally,  the  in  many  respects  ex- 
cellent treatise  by  Aug.  Ebrard,  Die  Weltanschauung  der  Bibel 
iind  die  Natuncissenschaften,  in  the  third  year  of  a  periodical  by 
this  scholar:  Die  Zukunft  der  Kirche,  Frankf.  u.  Zvrch.  1847. 
In  the  sphere  of  dogmatic  theology,  J.  P.  Lange  [positive  Dog- 


60  DEISM    AND     PANTHEISM. 

wliich  SO  peculiarly  apply  to  the  subject  in  hand, 
should  be  looked  upon  as  useless,  or  as  from  the  out- 
set unwarranted. 

mafik,  Heidelb.  1851)  enters  most  largely  into  a  comparison  of 
the  revelation  of  the  Scriptures  with  the  results  of  natural 
science,  and  in  that  of  exegetical  investigation,  Fr.  Delitzsch 
{Auslegung  der  Genesis,  Leipz.  1852).  The  talented  work  of  J. 
Richters  {Kaiur  und  Geisf,  Leipz.  1850,  seq.,  thus  far  3  vols.), 
■which  also  promises  to  treat  of  this  subject,  has  not  yet  progressed 
80  far. 


CHAPTER  THIRD. 

A    UNIVERSAL    HISTORY    OF    THE    COSMOS. 

Universal  History,  or  the  History  of  the  World, 
as  it  is  generally  understood,  contemplates  and  com- 
prehends the  total  earthly  development  of  the  human 
race,  and  estimates  sino^le  facts  accordins;  to  their 
general  significance  and  influence.  All  that  is  acci- 
dental and  without  influence,  every  merely  vegeta- 
tive or  instinctive  manifestation  of  life,  is  therefore 
excluded  from  the  sphere  of  its  contemplation ;  and 
it  forhids,  on  the  other  hand,  any  division,  dismem- 
berment and  separation  to  take  place  in  the  total 
organism  of  the  development.  On  the  contrary,  it 
demands  the  closest  examination  of  all  the  facts  and 
phenomena,  which  to  any  extent  may  have  had 
influence  upon  the  direction,  progress  and  results  of 
the  total  development,  which  have  had  any  bearing 
upon  the  education  and  advancement  of  the  human 
race.  I^o  nation  that  has  had  its  peculiar  task  to 
perform,  and  has  held  an  important,  influential 
position ;  no  time  which  has  left  behind  traces  of  its 
footsteps ;  no  occurrence  which  has  hastened  or  re- 
tarded the  stream  of  the  development,  or  has  given 
to  it  a  new  and  difierent  direction ;  no  'person  who 
has  in  a  measure  ruled  his  age  or  has  advanced  its 
interests  in  any  respect;  no  effort  of  the  human 
mind  which  has  cleared  the  way  for  a  farther  de- 
velopment, or  has  called  it  forth,  may  be  disregarded; 
a  (61) 


62  A    UNIVERSAL    II  I  stohy 

all  means  and  resources,  all  fartlierances  and  hin- 
drances in  the  movement,  science  and  art,  commerce 
and  industry,  religion  and  politics,  and  whatever 
else  has  influenced  the  indefatigable  mind  of  man 
striving  ever  after  higher  advancement,  after  more 
universal  swa^^,  are  subjects  for  this  science: — to 
inquire  into  all  these,  as  to  their  beginnings  and 
progress,  their  causes  and  eifects,  their  means  and 
ends,  to  compact  them  all  into  an  unique,  articulate 
organism,  and  to  comprehend  them  in  their  unity 
and  polarity,  their  reciprocal  and  antagonistic  influ- 
ences, is  the  irremissible  duty  and  task  of  the  histo- 
rian. History  is  the  physiology,  and  not  the  anatomy 
of  the  past. 

Thus  does  this  science  indeed  appear  as  the 
grandest  and  most  comprehensive  of  all  human 
sciences ;  and  the  inquiring  mind  of  man  finds  in 
the  study  of  it  a  subject  beyond  measure  worthy  of 
his  highest  powers.  With  good  reason,  therefore, 
may  we  call  it  Universal  History,  or  the  History  of  the 
World.  All  other  sciences,  be  it  God  or  man,  the 
state  or  the  church,  nature  or  art,  in  some  of 
their  relations,  which  is  chosen  as  the  subject  of 
special  investigation,  must  begin  with  this  science; 
must  enrich  themselves  and  wdden  their  intellectual 
horizon  by  means  of  its  labors  and  results.  It  desires 
to  grasp  and  understand  the  whole  earth,  the  whole 
human  race,  all  times  which  have  swept  over  the 
face  of  the  earth,  a  complete  world  in  respect  to  time 
and  space,  a  universe  of  life  and  action. 

And  yet  how  small,  with  all  its  astonishing  mag- 
nitude  and  fulness,  is  the  province  of  knowledge 


OFTIIECOSMOS.  63 

wliicli  sucli  a  universal  history  would  comprehend ! 
how  meagre  and  contracted  does  it  appear,  with  all 
its  immeasurable  extent,  w^hen  we  apply  a  higher,  a 
yet  more  comprehensive  rule  of  measurement,  the 
principle  of  wdaich,  also,  lies  concealed  in  the  human 
mind ! 

Is  then  our  earth  the  universe  in  a  proj)er  sense  ? 
is  it  the  world  which  contains  all  life  ?  are  its  boun- 
daries the  boundaries  of  all  time  and  space?  is  the 
human  mind  which  rules  and  inhabits  the  earth,  the 
only  manifestation  of  a  free,  personal  spirit,  a  spirit 
creating  history,  amid  all  the  creatures  of  God  ?  and 
is  there  no  space  beyond  the  earth  for  the  swelling 
tides  of  spiritual  activity,  for  the  movement  and 
development  of  self-conscious  life  ? 

Or,  if  vfe  be  compelled  to  say  that  such  cannot  be 
the  case,  are  tiie  operations  and  movements  of  other 
worlds  and  domains  of  life,  of  no  significance  or 
interest  to  us?  Does  the  history  of  what  is  beyond 
the  earth,  of  supra- mundane  beings,  take  place 
wholl}^  without  reference  to  our  history,  or  the  re- 
verse ?  or  does  no  superior  or  subordinate,  no  recip- 
rocal and  influential  relation  exist  between  them? 
do  the  different  members  of  the  universe  hold  their 
position  beside  each  other  wdiolly  devoid  of  meaning, 
without  a  higher  unity,  wuthout  being  united  to- 
gether as  a  complete  organic  whole  ?  Is  there  not 
rather  a  higher  end  attained  by  the  design  and 
special  functions  of  the  individual  members,  some- 
what as  the  special  purpose  andoflice  of  the  sino-lc 
members  of  the  body  serve  the  design  of  the  whole  ? 

Indeed,  were  it  so — had  beings  existing  beyond 


64  A    UNIVERSAL    niSTORY 

this  eartli  no  reference  to  us,  were  there  ?io  essential 
relation  between  them  and  ns — then  w^oiild  the  eager 
research  of  the  inquiring  mind,  which  carries  the 
venturesome  ship  of  thought  beyond  the  boundaries 
of  mortal  time  and  space,  be  a  mere  ignoble  and 
censurable  curiosity;  for  the  desire  to  investigate 
and  comprehend  what  does  not  concern  us,  wdiat 
has  no  reference  at  all  to  us,  or  to  our  position  and 
duties  in  life,  deserves  not  to  be  called  a  thirst  for 
knowledge,  but  much  rather  a  mere  vain  curiosity. 
Then  would  the  astronomer  who  turns  his  telescope 
towards  the  worlds  on  high,  and  the  profound  thinker, 
far  from  content  with  searching  into  earthly  things, 
and  also  the  divine,  ever  inquiring  of  the  Scriptures 
concerning  the  future,  and  seeking  to  quench  at  its 
pure  fountain  his  thirst  after  knowledge,  faith  and 
hope — then  would  these  all  deserve,  not  esteem  and 
approbation,  but  disapproval  and  censure ;  then 
would  those  nameless  longings  after  a  precious  and 
blessed,  though  distant  and  yet  unknown  abode, 
which  stir  in  our  inmost  bosom,  as  we,  fall  of  myste- 
rious earnests  of  a  great  future,  gaze  on  the  wide- 
spread glory  of  the  nocturnal  heavens,  be  but  the 
sentimental  conceits  of  silly  fools. 

There  is  —  such  is  the  answer  of  a  deep-felt  neces- 
sity which  we  cannot  ignore — there  is  a  history  other 
than  that  of  our  earth,  and  that  history  has  essential 
connection  with  our  history ;  both,  at  least  in  the 
grand  points  of  their  mutual  development,  touch  and 
penetrate  each  other ;  the  last,  the  final  goal  of  their 
mutual  strivings  and  movements,  is  a  common  one, 
a  grand  and  all-comprehending  one.     There   is  a 


OFTIIECOSMOS.  65 

universal  history,  or  history  of  the  world,  which  in 
a  higher  and  a  truer  sense  deserves  that  name,  than 
that  history  whose  object  is  to  grasp  all  the  develop- 
ments and  tendencies  of  the  human  race  inhabitinsi: 
this  atom  earth,  and  arrange  them,  under  one  point 
of  view,  in  scientific  order  and  harmony. 

Just  in  the  degree  that  the  human  mind,  by  means 
of  its  innate,  its  noble  tendency  toward  freedom, 
becomes  independent  of  this  clod,  from  which  man 
must  earn  his  bread  in  the  sweat  of  his  brow, — just 
in  the  same  degree  does  it  enlarge  and  expand  its 
world,  and  seek  intellectually  to  take  possession  of 
it  all,  to  penetrate  it  w^ith  its  powers  of  knowledge 
and  make  itself  at  home  therein.  A  quiet  home 
with  its  sorrows  and  joys,  a  workshop  with  its  labor 
and  toil,  or  the  village  of  his  birth,  is  to  many  an 
one,  all  his  w^orld.  And  the  history  of  tJiis  home  or 
this  village  is  Ms  history  of  the  world,  Ms  universal 
history. 

But  under  the  hand  of  more  favorable  culture,  the 
vision  of  the  aspiring  mind  extends,  and  its  horizon 
retreats ;  its  world  and  its  history  of  the  world,  both 
within  and  without,  become  ever  more  extensive  and 
comprehensive ;  it  would  grasp,  search  into  and 
fathom  the  origin  and  existence  of  everything  sig- 
nificant ofifered  by  the  east,  the  w^est,  the  north,  or 
the  south;  by  the  heights  or  depths  of  the  earth,  by 
the  past  or  the  present  of  the  human  race; — and 
soon,  very  soon  do  the  boundaries  of  its  subjective 
world  begin  to  coincide  wuth  the  boundaries  of  the 
objective,  the  sublunary  \yoy\(\.',  it  eagerly  craves  the 
knowledge  of  that  history  of  the  world  which  is 
6* 


66  A    UNIVERSAL     HISTORY 

none  other  than  the  universal  history  of  all  human 
and  earthly  developments. 

But  is  the  inquiring  mind  now  at  ease  and  satis- 
fied, when  in  its  hold  eagle  flight  it  has  reached  the 
ends  of  this  sublunary  world,  when,  as  it  w^ere,  it  has 
taken  the  wings  of  the  morning  and  reached  the 
uttermost  parts  of  the  sea  ?  Does  it  bow  willingly 
and  unconditionally  to  the  stern  command:  "Thus 
far — hut  no  further?" 

Xever.  And  just  in  that  docs  the  mind  prove  its 
origin  and  its  high  destiny,  its  dominion  over  time 
and  space ;  and  although  hound  to  time  and  space, 
and  hindered  at  every  step  by  the  bonds  of  the  flesh, 
never  in  the  infinite  sphere  of  time  and  space  does 
it  permit  limits  to  be  set  to  its  inquiries  and  its  con- 
quests. 

The  student  of  nature  beholds  through  his  micro- 
scope,a  whole  world  of  life  in  every  drop  of  the  ocean, 
upon  each  leaf  of  the  forest.  But  this  does  not 
satisfy  him.  He  appropriates  to  himself  something 
from  each  of  these  worlds,  as  a  preliminary  posses- 
sion, with  the  bold  assurance  that  he  shall  ever  more 
and  more  be  able  thoroughly  to  explore  them,  even 
in  their  most  hidden  details,  and  bring  them  under 
his  own  sway.  Putting  aside  the  microscope,  he 
grasps  the  telescope,  in  order  to  review,  examine 
and  explore  all  those  countless  worlds  on  high, 
which  at  an  inconceivable  distance  spangle  the  vault 
of  heaven,  and  each  one  of  which  mocks  his  petty 
earth  in  magnitude,  in  fulness  and  might  of  cosmical 
forces. 

The  historian,  who  deals  not  with  nature  directly, 


OF    THE     COSMOS.  67 

but  ratlier  with  the  developments  of  mind  tlierein^ 
and  the  influence  of  mind  thereujjon,  summons  all 
nations  and  all  times  which  have  left  behind  them 
traces  of  their  existence,  to  pass  before  his  sagacious 
and  discriminating  mind ;  in  order  to  construct  from 
the  ten  thousand  events,  developments  and  changes 
which  have  occurred,  a  unique,  life-like  image  of  the 
history  of  his  own  race ;  in  order  to  determine  the 
w^ork  that  race  has  to  perform,  its  destination,  and 
its  present  nearness  to  or  distance  from  that  destina- 
tion. 

But  he  also  catches  the  glories  of  the  worlds  above, 
and  has  kindled  within  his  bosom  the  hope,  the 
anticipation,  that  they  also  may  have  a  history,- 
that  this  history  is  not  without  interest  to  the  human 
mind,  that  perhaps  many  a  problem  in  the  develop- 
ments of  this  sublunary  world  which  he  cannot 
solve,  may  there  find  its  solution.  A  JoJin  von 
3Iiiner,  whose  large  and  comprehensive  mind  grasped 
the  total  development  of  the  human  race,  with  a 
depth  of  insight  and  a  clearness  of  understanding 
which  few  historians  have  attained  to,  felt  fa?-  from 
being  satisfied  with  what  he  had  accomplished ;  his 
lofty  and  aspiring  mind  yearned  for  a  more  grand,  a 
more  comprehensive,  a  higher  history;  he  eagerly 
longed  for  the  time,  when,  as  he  said,  he  might 
study  the  universal  history  of  the  solar  system. 

John  von  Midler  was  a  Christian  man.  That  hope 
he  cherished  sprang  from  his  assurance  of  that  eter- 
nal life,  in  which  our  faith  shall  become  sight,  and 
our  present  meagre  attainments  be  perfected  and 
exalted  to  the  all-comprehending  completeness  of 


68  A    UNIVERSAL    HISTORY 

knowledge ;  in  which  all  problems  of  the  microcosm 
and  of  the  macrocosm  shall  be  solved,  and  we  see 
face  to  face,  and  know  even  as  we  are  known. 

But  is  that  knowledge  which  he  believed  awaited 
him  only  in  the  clear  vision  of  the  future,  wholly 
beyond  the  horizon  of  the  present  life?  Is  it  true, 
then,  that  we  cannot  here  see  into  those  mysteries, 
though  it  be  but  as  through  a  glass  darkly?  —  at 
least,  so  long  as  we  remain  children  in  the  know- 
ledge of  the  real  nature  of  all  things,  may  we  not 
still  be  wise,  as  children,  and  have  childish  thoughts, 
childish  views,  and  childish  expectations  ?  Shall 
then,  with  respect  to  those  mysteries,  even  the 
meagre  boon  of  this  short  life  —  to  hioiu  in  ]part — be 
denied  us  ? 

'''All  things  are  yours,'"  says  the  apostle;  but  he 
wisely  adds,  "  hut  all  things  are  not  expedient.''  Are 
Ave  then  profited  by  knowing  in  fart?  are  such  child- 
ish thoughts  and  views  of  any  service  ?  Is  it  not 
rather  useless,  foolish  and  wrong,  to  expend  time 
with  them,  since  we  can  arrive  at  no  certainty  of 
knowledge  by  such  means,  since  we  can  thus  scarcely 
avoid  misconstructions,  distorted  conceptions,  and 
even  positive  errors  ? 

We  reply  with  another  question.  Shall  we  deny 
the  child,  because  it  is  unable  to  fathom  in  their 
inmost  nature; the  world  and  the  things  that  are 
therein,  and  to  comprehend  them  in  their  various 
relations  and  their  manifold  indications,  —  shall  we 
on  this  account  deny  the  child  every  thoughtful  and 
inquiring  contemplation  of  these  things,  every  en- 
deavor to  understand  them  so  far  as  it  can,  or  so  far 


OFTHECOSMOS.  C9 

as  its  faculties  will  permit,  and  every  attempt  to 
explain  them  after  its  own  manner  ?  Shall  we  not 
grant  it  the  privilege  of  enriching  the  little  world  of 
its  thoughts  and  opinions,  of  widening  its  sphere  of 
vision,  even  at  the  risk  of  one-sided,  distorted  and 
ridiculous  conceptions  being  taken  up,  over  which  it 
will  itself  laugh  in  later  years  ?  What  would  other- 
wise become  of,  or  how  else  should  we  secure,  the 
education  of  its  mental  faculties,  and  its  fitness  for 
the  duties  of  maturer  life  ? 

-Jf,  then,  some  knowledge  of  the  history  of  the 
universe  is  to  be  obtained,  however  fragmentary  and 
inadequate  that  knowledge  may  be,  and  we  inquire 
for  the  surest  sources  from  which  it  is  to  be  derived, 
these  three  alone  present  themselves ;  philosophical 
speeulation,  the  telescope  of  the  astronomer,  and  the 
Bible. 

The  human  mind  is  possessed  o^  'prophetic  powers; 
— these  are  grounded  in  its  divine  origin;  for  a 
divine  breath  of  life  dwells  in  man,  a  breath  which 
w^as  breathed  into  the  form  made  from  the  dust  of 
the  earth,  by  the  God  of  the  spirits  of  all  flesh.  But 
since  man,  in  the  perversity  of  his  will,  has  cut  him- 
self off  from  the  eternal  source  of  his  being,  since 
now  the  finite  mind  of  man  is  isolated  from  the  infi- 
nite, the  eternal  mind,  those  prophetic  powers  are 
deprived  of  the  only  soil  in  Avhich  they  can  thrive, 
in  which  they  can  unfold  their  potential  fulness  and 
energy.  Only  vague,  helpless  conjectures,  which 
grope  around  in  the  dark,  remain  within  the  power 
of  man ;  the  ofl:spring  of  his  futile  efforts  to  re-assert 
his  lost  destiny.     And  it  was  only  when  divine  ful- 


70  A    UNIVERSAL    HISTORY 

ness  again  poured  itself  into  the  soul  of  man,  when 
through  faith  and  grace  the  broken  band  of  union 
was  renewed,  and  the  dried-up  stream  was  replen- 
ished from  the  fountain  whence  it  originally  took 
its  rise  —  in  the  Prophets  of  the  old  and  the  new 
Covenant — only  then  did  these  prophetic  powers 
reach  a  development  at  all  worthy  of  their  end — 
only  then  was  the  human  mind  able  to  rise,  on  the 
wings  of  prophetic  inspiration,  to  those  heights  from 
whence  it  was  permitted  to  survey  the  regions  of 
knowledge  beyond  the  reach  of  mortal  vision. 

But  what  can  mere  philosophical  speculation  dis- 
cover here  ?  what  can  it  bring  to  light?  The  philo- 
sopher may  indeed,  by  means  of  his  innate  prophetic 
powers — powers  which  have  not,  however,  been 
developed  so  as  to  be  successfully  and  efficiently 
employed — have,  as  it  were,  by  inward  necessity,  a 
presentiment  that  there  is  something  to  be  sought 
after,  something  to  be  learned ;  but  not  a  clear  know- 
ledge of  what  it  is,  or  how  it  exists.  Speculation  is 
merely  an  instrument — it  cannot  derive  from  itself 
the  material  with  which  it  would  form  a  system  of 
knowledge,  but  must  receive  it  from  without;  it  can 
at  best  deduce  only  the  general  from  the  particular, 
the  wherefore  from  the  what  and  the  how. 

If  speculation  be,  therefore,  of  any  significance  in 
general,  as  a  means  of  gaining  knowledge  of  the 
history  of  other  worlds  and  the  relations  they  sustain 
to  us,  it  can  be  so  only  in  the  degree  in  which  it 
abides  true  to  the  established  views  of  experience,  or 
the  representations  of  revelation  ;  therefore,  only  so 
far  as  it  makes  the  results  of  physical  research  or  the 


OFTIIECOSMOS.  71 


data  of  revelation 5 tlie  substratum  of  its  reasonings, 
and  thus  deduces  the  unknown  from  the  known,  the 
general  from  the  particular.  It  is  clear,  therefore, 
that  speculation  is  at  best  unsafe,  not  to  be  relied  on, 
and  very  prone  to  err. 

But  the  telescope  also,  however  magnificent  and 
astonishing  its  discoveries  —  which  bid  fair  to  be 
increased  every  day — can  scarcely  offer  us  anything 
considerable  for  our  present  purpose.  The  telescope 
points  out  only  the  material  cosmical  masses ;  only 
the  massive  works  of  the  creative  mind,  in  their  most 
general  forms,  relations  and  movements.  But  the 
individual  is  hopelessly  lost  from  its  view  in  the 
general,  the  small  in  the  great,  and  the  free  acts  of 
created  beings  in  and  on  the  worlds  they  inhabit; 
in  short,  all  that  begets,  conditions,  and  forms 
history. 

But  still,  however,  the  results  of  astronomical 
research  are  not  wholly  without  significance  touching 
the  investigation  and  knowledge  of  the  history  of 
the  universe.  They  teach  us  the  general  bases  on 
which  this  history  comes  to  pass,  the  peculiar  con- 
stitution of  which  may  more  or  less  affect  the  history 
itself  They  give  us  the  power  to  deduce  upon  the 
grounds  of  necessary  and  universally  existing  rela- 
tions between  mind  and  matter,  from  a  knowledge 
of  the  cosmical  connections  and  relations  of  the  dif- 
ferent worlds  of  the  universe  to  each  other,  more  or 
less  reliable  conclusions  touching  a  corresponding 
condition  and  relation  of  the  beings  which  inhabit 
them;  on  whose  account,  also,  those  worlds  exist,  and 
exist  as  they  do.     The  earth  exists  for  man's  sake ; 


72  A    UNIVERSAL    HISTORY 

its  destiny  is  conditioned  by  his  destiny,  its  develop- 
ment depends  npon  his  development.  We  must 
assume  a  like  connection  between  individual  nature 
and  the  individual  mind,  as  respects  development 
and  destiny,  to  exist  in  the  heaven  1}^  worlds  also. 
And  wherever  w^e  perceive  a  vital  connection,  a 
reciprocal  relation  to  exist  between  certain  worlds, 
there  we  must  also  assume  a  corresponding  relation 
or  connection  to  exist  between  the  inhabitants  of 
these  worlds  —  a  relation  chiefly  of  destinies,  which 
the  creative  mind  has  affixed  to  them,  but  which 
they  themselves  must  choose  of  their  ow^n  accord,^ 
unfold  in  their  own  proper  development — in  history 
— and  gradually  w^ork  out  a  full  and  satisfactory 
manifestation. 

^  The  created  spirit  can,  indeed,  determine  itself  to  some  other 
end  than  that  for  which  it  was  appointed  by  the  Creator  in  the 
beginning;  since  as  iifree  creature,  it  must  possess  the  power  to 
will  as  it  chooses.  But  when  once  its  godless  self-determination 
carries  it  in  direct  and  inveterate  opposition  to  God,  so  as  to  cut 
off  all  possibility  of  its  returning  to  its  original  destiny,  of  its  re- 
commencing the  missed  development  with  the  divine  potency  of 
the  beginning  —  when  thus  the  bond  of  communion  between  the 
created  spirit  and  the  Creative  Mind  is  irreparably  broken,  then 
also  is  the  bond  hopelessly  severed,  which  bound  that  creature  in 
living  union  and  co-operation  with  all  the  creatures  of  God  which 
have  been  true  to  their  original  destiny.  The  unholy  creature  shall 
at  the  end  of  its  godless  development — together  with  its  nature,  so 
far  as  that  has  been  plunged  into  the  abyss  of  iniquity,  through 
the  power  of  the  spirit  itself  over  it,  or  without  it,  so  far  as  by 
virtue  of  its  divine  constitution  it  is  not  capable  of  such  a  calam- 
ity—  be  separated  from  the  organic  and  harmonious  family  of 
faithful  creatures,  who  find  their  end  and  rest  in  God,  and  be 
doomed  to  hopeless  perdition. 


OFTIIECOSMOS.  73 

But,  notwithstanding,  experience  or  empirical  sci- 
ence is  of  little  more  use  to  us  here  than  self- 
abandoned  speculation — the  united  strength  of  both 
avails  us  little.  Both  speculation  and  empirical 
science  lead  us  to  imagine  and  take  for  granted  the 
existence  of  a  connected  and  widely-related  history 
of  the  universe.  But  neither  of  them  discloses  to  us 
the  nature  and  the  theme  of  this  history;  neither  of 
them  has  the  power  to  bring  before  the  discerning 
eye  of  the  mind  the  concrete,  individual  forms,  the 
living  images  of  this  history,  and  the  changes  which 
underlie  it.  And  even  could  they  do  this,  the  rela- 
tion and  reference  of  the  details  of  the  history  to  the 
w^hole,  could  ever  be  but  a  matter  of  vague  and 
unsatisfactory  conjecture,  until  the  whole  were  come 
to  pass,  when  the  relations  and  reciprocal  influences 
of  the  details  might,  indeed,  be  more  clearly  and 
satisfactorily  discerned. 

But  there  still  remains  a  third  source  of  know- 
ledge. That  is  Divine  revelation  in  the  Scriptures. 
Here  it  is  that  the  human  mind  is  raised  to  the  sub- 
lime heights  of  divine  contemplation,  and  favored 
with  the  profound  and  penetrating  vision  of  divine 
wisdom ;  so  that  it,  according  to  the  measure  of  its 
actual  need,  on  the  one  hand,  and  w^ithin  the  limits 
of  the  sphere  into  which  the  wisdom  of  God  has 
raised  it,  on  the  other — may  know  and  declare  what 
were  otherwise  liopelessly  withdrawn  from  its  most 
^eager  research,  but  what  notwithstanding  is  whole- 
some, useful,  and  necessary  to  be  known. 

Here  at  last  may  we  hope  to  find  disclosures  con- 
cerning that  history,  the  knowledge  of  which  is  so 
7 


74  A    UNIVERSAL    HISTORY 

foreign  to  our  minds,  but  -which  yet  so  closely  con- 
cerns us,  that  the  thirst  and  ardent  desire  after  it, 
manifested  by  the  aroused  mind,  can  neither  be 
ignored  nor  appeased.  For  if  this  thirst,  this  ardent 
desire,is  not  an  unnatural,  sickly,  feverish  appetite ; 
if  it  is  rather  a  thirst  springing  from  the  nature  of 
mind  itself;  if  it  be  true  that  there  exist  mutual 
relations  and  influences  between  our  world  and  the 
worlds  on  high,  between  the  human  mind  and  cre- 
ated minds  in  other  worlds ;  if  it  be  true  that  the 
developments  and  changes  of  our  history  stand  in 
important  relations  to  the  design  and  end  of  the 
universe :  are  those  conditioned  in  a  manner  by 
these,  and  these  by  those,  so  that  the  peculiar  posi- 
tion and  mission  of  the  earth  and  its  inhabitants  as 
assigned  them  by  the  Creator,  cannot  be  learned  or 
understood  without  a  knowledge  of  these  important 
connections — then  may  we  reasonably  expect  that 
the  Scriptures  should  have  given  us  such  disclosures 
as  would  meet  the  wants  of  this  mortal  life  and  the 
present  state  of  our  knowledge. 

Revelation  is  affected  by  none  of  the  failings  and 
defects  of  philosophy  and  science,  none  of  the  limi- 
tations and  clogs  which  everywhere  and  on  all  sides 
meet  speculation  and  empirical  science  in  the  inves- 
tigation of  the  history  of  the  universe,  and  which 
mock  all  earnest  endeavors  of  the  ardent  mind,  and 
all  calculations  of  inquiring  reason.  But  it,  too,  has 
its  limits  —  for  prophecy  is,  as  all  human  knowledge 
which  is  gained  in  connection  with  human  means, 
still  of  a  fragmentary  nature;  it  has  its  subjective 
limits,  which  are  conditioned  by  the  then  existing 


OFTHECOSMOS.  75 

capabilities  and  culture  of  the  mind  through  which 
it  comes;  it  has  also  its  objective  limits,  which  are 
drawn  by  the  illuminating,  instructing,  and  fostering 
wisdom  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 

^N'ot  all,  indeed,  that  curiosity  might  wish  to  know, 
is  opened  to  the  vision  of  the  prophet; but  only  that 
which  is  useful  and  practical.  ISTor  was  prophecy 
intended  to  satisfy  depraved  appetites,  seeking  after 
hidden  wisdom,  but  only  a  real  hunger  and  thirst  for 
that  spiritual  nourishment  which  is  just  as  necessary 
to  the  life  of  the  soul  as  material  food  for  the  life  of 
the  body.  But  within  the  boundaries  set  to  pro- 
phecy by  its  nature  and  design,  by  the  wants  and 
capacities  of  the  mind,  by  divine  foreknowledge 
and  wisdom,  it  moves  free,  and  untrammelled  by  any 
of  the  clogs  which  time  and  space  impose  on  thought 
and  investigation,  themselves  confined  to  time  and 
space. 

In  prophecy  the  human  spirit,  made  in  the  image 
and  likeness  of  God,  is  raised  to  the  eternal  source 
from  whence  it  proceeded,  and  satisfied  from  the 
fulness   of  divine   knowledge,  a  source   superior  to 
time  and  space,  though  still  pervading  both.     Pro- 
ceeding from  the  present,  its  attainments  and  its  still 
existing  wants,  which  are  both  the  result  of  past 
essential  developments,  and  also  the  germs  and  con- 
ditions of  all  future  developments — proceeding  from 
tJie  present,  prophecy  casts  its  divine  glances  back- 
ward into  the  past,  and  forward  into  the  future ;  — 
proceeding  from  what  is  near  at  hand,  yet  bound  to 
the  distant  by  the  unity  of  design  and  destiny  exist- 
ing everywhere  in  the  universe,  it  casts  its  glances 


76  A    UNIVERSAL    HISTORY. 

into  the  most  remote  regions  of  space.  The  facts  of 
the  past,  though  they  lie  buried  under  the  rubbish 
of  thousands  of  years,  and  have  glided  from  the 
memories  and  tongues  of  men,  yea,  even  though  no 
mortal  eye  was  witness  to  their  occurrence,  are  re- 
vealed to  its  divine  far-seeing  eye.  From  what  is 
seen  it  traces  the  origin  of  its  being ;  from  the  con- 
dition of  the  present  it  divines  the  developments  of 
the  past;  for  the  latter  lie  veiled  and  hidden  in  the 
former,  but  the  divine  energy  of  prophetic  vision 
makes  them  stand  forth  in  clear  light.  In  a  similar 
manner  does  it  disclose  the  essential  developments 
of  the  future,  so  far  as  they  are  conditioned  by  the 
state  of  the  present,  and  lie  concealed  in  it,  as  so 
many  germs  yet  undeveloped,  as  so  many  attempts 
and  beginnings  still  unseen ;  it  also  urges  its  way 
into  the  depths  of  space,  borne  by  the  really  existing, 
if  indeed  not  clearly  perceived  relation  between  what 
is  near  at  hand  and  what  is  remote. 


CHAPTER    FOURTH. 

THE    BIBLICAL   THEORY   OF   THE   ORIGIN,    DEVELOPMENT, 
AND    CONSUMMATION   OF   THE    UNIVERSE. 

In  the  preceding  chapter  we  have  spoken  of  a 
Universal  History  of  the  Cosmos,  founded  upon 
unity  of  plan  in  all  worlds,  and  striving  towards  a 
grand  (einheitlichen)  goal.  That  such  a  history 
should  exist,  has  appeared  to  us  more  than  probable. 
We  have  also  found  that,  should  there  be  such  a 
histoiy,  neither  philosophical  speculation,  nor  empi- 
rical science,  is  capable  of  furnishing  us  with  a 
knowledge  of  it. 

But  we  have  named  a  third  method  of  obtainino: 
the  desired  knowledge  —  a  method  by  which,  if  by 
any,  we  could  be  satisfied :  study  of  the  Scriptures 
as  the  archives  of  Divine  revelation.  We  design  to 
apply  this  method  in  the  present  chapter.  Perhaps 
we  may  here  be  able  to  discover  the  elements  and 
fundamental  features  of  such  a  universal  historj^ 

§  1.   Origin,  Significance,  and  Character,  of  the  Biblical 
History  of  the  Creation,  and  the  primeval  Age. 

There  stands  on  the  very  threshold  of  sacred  writ, 
an  account  of  the  primeval  history  of  earth  and 
man,  of  such  significance  to  theology  and  science  in 
general,  of  such  depth  and  breadth  of  meaning,  of 
such  fundamental  importance  and  manifold  reference, 
that,  in  these  respects,  few  passages  of  Scripture  can 
7*  (77) 


78         BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

be  compared  with  it.  It  also  offers  us  many  grounds 
upon  which  to  rest  as  we  proceed  with  our  present 
inquiry.  Our  investigations  shall  therefore  proceed 
from  it  as  a  basis,  and  often  return  to  it  again  during 
the  progress  of  the  inquiry.  Let  us  first  seek  to 
gain  clear  views  of  the  character  and  significance, 
the  origin,  position,  and  design  of  this  record. 

"We  shall  perceive  at  the  first  hasty  glance,  that 
this  record  naturally  divides  itself  into  two  inde- 
pendent sections.  The  first,  which  includes  Chap. 
1-2  :  1-3,  treats  of  the  origin  of  the  universe,  or,  in 
the  words  of  Scripture  itself,  of  the  origin  of  "  the 
heavens  and  the  earth  and  all  the  host  of  them.''  The 
second,  extending  from  Chap.  2  :  4,  to  the  end  of 
Chap.  3,  records  the  history  of  the  fall  of  man,  its 
causes  and  consequences,  its  preliminaries  and  its 
results.  The  latter  part  of  the  second  section  (the  con- 
sequences and  results  of  the  fixll)  is  given  as  a  founda- 
tion for  all  future  sacred  history ;  the  former  (the  occa- 
sion, the  causes,  and  the  preliminaries  of  the  fall)  con- 
ducts this  section  back  into  the  sphere  of  creation, 
whereby  it  sustains  several  points  of  contact,  with  the 
first  or  preceding  section.  For  the  present,  we  shall 
leave  the  relation  of  the  two  sections  unexplained ;  in 
order  first  of  all  to  take  into  consideration  some  ques- 
tions which  demand  a  general  answer.  (Comp.  §  10.) 

The  three  first  chapters  of  Genesis  treat  of  what 
in  part  lies  outside  and  beyond  all  human  experience 
and  recollection ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  of  those 
first,  quickly  flown,  morning  hours  of  the  history  of 
the  human  race,  the  nature  and  circumstances  of 
which  have   ever   since  that   time  been   something 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CREATION.  79 

foreign  to  and  beyond  all  experience,  observation, 
and  analogy. 

Is  the  representation  which  is  here  presented  us, 
of  the  nature  and  developments  of  those  primeval 
times,  poetry  or  philosophy,  tradition  or  history  ? 

When  foetry  appears  in  the  form  of  histol'y,  as 
the  relation  of  something  that  has  occurred,  it  is 
either  imre  poetry,  the  material  of  which  is  wholly 
drawn  from  the  poet's  own  mind,  or  historical 
poetry,  in  which  facts  or  events  are  moulded  or  re- 
constructed to  serve  a  poetical  end.  In  either  case, 
the  creation  or  new-creation  of  the  poet  is  merely 
clothed  in  the  drapery  of  history.  But  he  makes  no 
demand  that  his  representation,  as  a  whole,  should 
be  looked  upon  as  one  of  real  and  substantial  facts. 

Such  a  poem  may  proceed  from  a  poet  enlightened 
by  the  Spirit  of  God ;  such  a  poem  may  therefore, 
when  such  is  the  case,  be  included  in  the  Sacred 
Scriptures.  As  an  example,  we  mention  the  Book 
of  Job,  in  which  historical  or  traditional  material 
is  poetically  wrought  into  a  canvass  upon  which  to 
represent  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  flowing  from 
the  depths  of  a  soul  enlightened  by  the  Spirit  of 
God.  But  our  record  offers  nothing  at  all  analogous. 
Here  history  is  not  the  drapery  or  the  canvass,  but 
the  body  and  the  substance.  The  record  evidently 
designs  what  is  here  represented  in  an  historical 
form,  to  be  regarded  as  real  truth.  In  respect  to  the 
first  section,  this  appears  with  indubitable  certainty 
from  its  close,  Chap.  2  :  3,  where  the  hallowing  of 
the  Sabbath  day,  and  the  resting  of  God  on  the 
seventh  day,  are  grounded  on  the  six  days'  work  of 


80         BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WOULD. 

creation.  There  is  no  sense  in  tliis  connection, 
unless  both  be  looked  upon  as  facts  historically 
true.  But  neither  will  the  second  section  pass  for  a 
mere  creation  of  the  fancy,  as  an  unrestricted  poem. 
Its  whole  conception,  arrangement,  and  representa- 
tion, shows  clearly  that  it  was  intended  to  communi-. 
cate  what  is  substantially  and  essentially  true.  Both 
sections  are  looked  upon  and  applied  as  having  this 
undoubted  design,  by  all  the  subsequent  books  of 
the  Bible  w^hich  refer  to  them. 

We  can,  indeed,  conceive  of  a  poem  which  has 
other  than  merely  poetical  ends ;  and  which,  to  secure 
these  ends,  must  be  regarded  as  history,  though  in 
reality  it  be  only  poetry.  May  not  (to  keep  as  closB 
to  the  account  of  the  creation  as  possible)  the  fact 
that  this  record  was  to  serve  as  the  foundation  of 
the  law  of  the  Sabbath,  and  that  it  arose  in  the  giv- 
ing of  that  law,  lead  us  to  believe  that  such  was  the 
case  here  ?  May  not  some  Sage  of  Israel,  with  the 
noble  design  of  recommending  as  divine  that  highly 
significant  institution,  and  of  establishing  it  among 
the  people,  have  written  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis 
as  a  poem,  but  have  represented  its  contents  as  his- 
torical facts,  in  order  thereby  successfully  to  attain 
his  object? 

Such  a  question  can  arise  only  so  long  as  the 
writings,  the  history  and  the  institutions  of  the  Old 
Testament,  are  looked  upon  as  of  merely  human 
origin  —  or  an  attempt  is  made  so  to  regard  them. 
But  wheu  we  are  forced  to  the  conviction,  by  inward 
and  outward  necessity,  by  the  witness  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  as  well  as  the  results  of  our  own  investiga- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CREATION.  81 

tions,  that  another  than  the  human  mind — the  mind 
of  God  himself,  has  presided  over  and  wrought  in 
these  books  and  the  history  they  contain ;  we  cannot 
but  at  once  repel  such  an  inquiry  with  indignation 
and  disdain.  When  we  clearly  perceive  that  the  his- 
tory, teachings  and  prophecies  of  the  Old  Testament, 
all  point  to  the  incarnation  of  Christ,  that  in  Him 
they  find  their  end  of  fulfilment;  then  it  follows 
directly  that  their  truth  must  be  fully  attested  and 
proven  by  the  facts  of  Christ's  life  and  death.  The 
Mosaic  history  of  the  creation  is  the  corner-stone  of 
that  temple  which  has  been  perfected  and  finished 
by  the  apostles  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  divine  struc- 
ture of  Christianity  cannot  be  founded  upon  a  delu- 
sion :  it  would  spurn  a  fraud  as  its  basis. 

Philosophy^  just  as  poetry,  is  the  peculiar  creation 
of  its  author,  but  it  differs  in  kind.  Starting  from 
the  known,  touching  the  origin,  significance,  and 
end  of  which,  neither  historical  nor  empirical  re- 
search can  satisfy  us,  it  attempts  to  fill  up  the  chinks 
and  chasms  in  human  knowledge  —  the  voids  in 
history  and  experience — by  the  agency  of  reflection 
and  speculation;  and  is  often  so  presuming  as  to 
ascribe  unconditional  certainty  and  credibility  to  the 
results  of  its  erroneous  reasonings. 

It  has  been  thought  that  we  should  rather  ascribe 
such  an  origin  to  our  record,  since  really  the  origin 
of  the  world  and  the  origin  of  evil,  of  which  it  would 
give  an  account,  have  ever  been  the  foremost  and 
most  weighty  problems  of  all  philosophy  and  specu- 
lation. But  apart  from  many  other  considerations 
which  oppose  such  a  derivation  of  the  record,  the 


82  BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

fundamental  position  it  holds  with  respect  to  the 
whole  history  of  Divine  revelations,  and  the  history 
of  redemption,  and  also  the  attestation  it  receives 
from  the  writings  of  the  ]^ew  Testament,  sufficiently 
assures  us  that  we  possess  in  it  something  else  and 
vastly  better  than  the  mere  abortions  of  a  brain 
philosophizing  on  the  problems  of  the  w^orld  and  of 
human  life. 

Tradition  is  an  account  of  something  which  has 
occurred,  orally  transmitted  from  generation  to  gene- 
ration. It  has  to  do  merely  with  pre-historical  times, 
circumstances,  and  events.  But  so  soon  as  eye- 
witnesses or  cotemporaries  begin  to  record  in  writing 
the  events  of  the  present  for  the  use  of  future  times, 
the  historical  age  of  a  nation  commences.  What- 
ever in  the  accounts  of  former  ages  was  not  written 
by  immediate  eye-witnesses  or  cotemporaries,  what- 
ever has  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time  been  transmitted 
from  lip  to  lip,  is  Tradition.  But  such  tradition 
may  have  a  two-fold  origin.  It  may  either  lead 
back,  by  an  unbroken  chain  of  transmission,  to  the 
times  when  what  it  delivers  came  to  pass,  so  as  to 
be  the  vehicle  of  historical  recollections,  however 
much  these  may  be  transformed,  enriched,  and 
adorned  by  the  poetical  vein  of  the  nation's  mind ; 
or  the  chain  of  transmission  may  be  broken  ofl",  and 
the  public  mind  in  which  dwells  a  no  less  universal 
'Oiorror  vacui"  than  fruitful  poetical  faculty,  have 
supplied  the  wanting  links,  have  attached  to  actual 
events,  or  something  which  now  exists,  a  poetical 
history  of  its  own  creation,  touching  the  manner  of 
their  origin,  which  the  next  generation  would  un- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CREATION.  83 

Buspectingly  transmit  as  proper  tradition,  reaching 
back  to  the  time  of  the  events  themselves. 

The  articulate  position  of  our  record  in  connection 
with  the  history  of  all  revelations,  forbids  us  to  re- 
gard it  as  tradition  of  this  latter  kind.  We  may, 
therefore,  have  no  scruples  in  holding  it  to  be  tradi- 
tion of  the  kind  first  mentioned.  Indeed,  we  must 
regard  it,  though  if  be  forced  to  maintain  the  posi- 
tion and  significance  it  possesses  from  being  included 
among  the  records  of  the  kingdom  of  grace,  in  some 
other  way,  as  pure  tradition,  as  a  true  recollection 
of  primeval  times;  we  must  deny  that  any  such  a 
transformation  has  happened  to  it  as  would  destroy 
the  truth  of  its  special  teachings,  its  essential  con- 
tents. But  it  may  be  tradition,  and  still  answer  all 
requirements.  For  though  we  may  nowhere  among 
other  nations  be  able  to  find  tradition  in  such  purity, 
in  such  close  harmony  with  the  original  facts : 
though  it  be  not  possible  for  any  other  nation  to 
trace  back  a  tradition,  transformed  by  the  lips  of  the 
people,  decked  wdth  arbitrary  poetical  fancies,  and 
garnished  with  philosophical  speculations,  to  the 
pure  historical  account  first  started — yet  may  we, 
in  case  we  must  derive  our  record  from  tradition, 
with  great  confidence  maintain,  with  respect  to  it, 
both  harmony  with  the  original  facts  and  integrity 
as  a  vehicle  by  which  they  have  been  transmitted  to 
us.  Let  us  not  forget  that  w^e  are  here  in  a  province 
where  Divine  Providence  has  presided  in  a  special, 
in  a  striking  manner;  so  that  it  cannot  appear  im- 
possible that  a  tradition,  which  was  designed  in  pro- 
cess of  time  to  be  included  in  the  Divine  records, 


84         BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

should  have  been  preserved  unchanged,  under  the 
supervision  of  the  Spirit,  down  to  the  age  of  him  who 
was  called  to  incorporate  it  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures, 
and  therehy  attach  to  it  the  Divine  Sanction.  But 
we  are  in  no  need  of  even  such  a  supposition ;  we 
can,  without  hesitation,  admit  that  the  original  tra- 
dition may  have  experienced  many  arbitrary  or 
undesigned  poetical  additions  or  transformations, 
among  the  nation  of  Israel,  and  still  ascribe  to  the 
written  record,  as  it  stands  in  Genesis  1-3,  uncondi- 
tioned credibility  and  truthfulness.  For  we  know 
that  the  men  of  God,  to  whom  the  composition  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures  was  entrusted,  were  under  the 
guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  that  they  may  thus 
have  been  made  competent  to  separate  the  true  from 
the  false,  the  genuine  from  the  counterfeit,  in  those 
traditions  which  they  were  to  receive  as  sources 
of  knowledge  in  relation  to  the  Divine  counsel  and 
history  of  redemption,  and  (we  repeat  it)  thereby 
attach  to  them  the  Divine  sanction. 

Our  record  may  be  derived  from  tradition,  but  then 
the  tradition  it  contains  must  of  necessity  be  j9w?v, 
unadulterated,  or  at  least  refined  and  purified  —  such 
a  tradition  as  is  one  in  essence  with  the  proper  his- 
tory of  the  Bible,  and  can  be  distinguished  from  it 
merely  in  this,  that  it  comes  from  oral  transmission 
of  facts  and  not  from  the  writings  of  cotemporaries. 
It  may  he  tradition.  But  whether  it  really  is  tradition, 
whether  the  author  of  Genesis  did  in  fact  derive  it 
from  oral  transmission,  or  whether  he  acquired  its 
contents  in  some  other  way,  from  some  other  source, 
cannot  as  yet,  indeed,  be  positively  affirmed. 


HISTORY    OF     THE    CnEATION.  85 

But  farther  examination  will  lead  us  to  answer  the 
question  before  us  afhrniativelj.  Simple  combina- 
tions of  indubitable  facts  necessarily  force  us  to  this 
conclusion.  The  author  of  Genesis  either  found  the 
substance  of  the  account  already  in  existence,  or  it 
was  imparted  to  him  by  means  of  revelation.  But 
the  latter  supposition  is  wholly  untenable,  since  the 
traditions  of  all  other  nations,  in  the  north  and  in 
the  south,  in  the  east  and  the  west,  wdiatever  fanda- 
mental  difterences  there  may  be  in  their  religious 
views,  agree  in  so  striking  a  manner,  in  respect  to 
the  substantial  facts,  and  often  even  the  minutest  de- 
tails, with  the  representations  of  our  record,  that 
we  cannot  avoid  referring  all  accounts  to  the  same 
source.  For  it  is  wholly  incredible  that  the  other 
nations  should  have  derived  those  features  common 
to  the  traditions  of  all  nations,  from  the  Israelites ; 
neither  can  the  author  of  Genesis  nor  any  single 
Israelite  have  been  the  sole  "recipient  of  this  record. 
"We  must  assume  the  existence  of  a  common  source, 
from  which  both  the  Israelites  and  the  other  nations 
derived  their  accounts ;  and  this  original  source  must 
pertain  to  a  time  when  the  human  race  yet  retained 
its  original  unity,  in  which  it  was  not  yet  divided  by 
varieties  of  language  or  abode,  by  marked  distinc- 
tions of  race,  or  differences  in  civilization  and  reli- 
gion. The  nations  now  isolated,  must  have  derived 
such  accordant  recollections  and  traditions  from 
those  primeval  times.  According  to  the  different 
spiritual  channels  through  which  this  heritage  of  the 
Father's  house  was  conducted,  did  it  assume,  on  the 
lips  of  priests  or  people,  manifold  forms,  but  ever  so 
8 


SQ  BIBLICAL   THEORY   OF    THE   WORLD. 

that  the  seal  of  the  Father's  house,  the  unity  of  its 
origin,  remaius  indelibly  enstampecl  upon  it.  In  Is- 
rael onl}^  the  nation  of  revelations,  did  tradition  re- 
tain its  original  form,  or  only  here  were  means  and 
abilities  to  be  found  capable  of  tracing  it  back  to 
that  form. 

But  if  we  are  forced  to  recur  to  the  time  when  the 
tribes  and  peoples  of  the  human  race  were  still 
united,  nothing  prevents  us,  nay  rather,  many  things 
compel  us  to  go  back  still  a  few  steps  further,  to  the 
time  of  N'oah,  and  from  thence  to  the  time  of  Adam. 
"We  believe  we  express  what  may  well  be  assumed, 
and  a  more  than  probable  conjecture,  when  we  say- 
that  the  contents  of  this  tradition  were  propagated 
by  oral  communication  from  the  earliest  times  down 
to  the  age  of  the  author  of  Genesis. 

But  our  record  contains,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
two  sections,  each  of  which  forms  a  distinct,  Avell- 
rounded  whole,  with  its  own  peculiar  arrangement 
and  representation  of  what  is  possessed  by  both  in 
common.  Does  not  this  twofold  character  of  the 
record  lead  us  to  infer  that  the  tradition  was  duplex, 
and  that  hence  it  had  a  double  origin  ?'     By  no 

'  Such  a  view  would  fain  be  confirmed,  from  pretended  or  ap- 
parent contradictions  between  the  two  sections.  I  have  shown 
in  other  places  [Bertrdge  zur  Vertlieidigung  und  Begrundung  der 
Elnheit  des  Pentaieuches,  Konigsb.,  1844,  I,  p.  50-73  ;  iind,Emheit 
der  Genesis,  Berlin  1846,  p.  2-14)  that  these  pretended  contra- 
dictions are  of  little  account.  It  would  lead  us  too  far  aside  from 
our  main  object,  and  interrupt  too  much  the  progress  of  our  work, 
to  examine  this  matter  at  length,  at  the  present  time.  It  is, 
doubtless,  true  at  the  outset,  that  the  author  of  Genesis  as  it  now 
stands,  though  it  be  true  that  he  came  into  possession  of  two  dif- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CREATION.  87 

means.  It  can  only,  in  the  worst  case,  point  to  a 
donble  form  of  the  original  tradition,  to  a  twofold 
circle  of  tradition  at  the  time  of  the  composition  of 
Genesis;  but  never  to  a  duplex  original  source.  The 
Israelitish  tradition,  at  all  events,  found  a  proper  cen- 
tral representative  in  IS'oah,  and  later  again  in  Abra- 
ham, Isaac,  and  Jacob.  Even  if  those  rajs  of  light 
from  primeval  times  had  been  in  the  meantime  de- 
composed, by  the  prism  of  oral  propagation,  into 
circles  of  different  color,  yet  must  they  have  resolved 
themselves  into  unity  again  in  ]N"oali  and  in  Abra- 
ham, though  it  were  with  the  loss  of  a  few  shades, 
(which  was  indeed  possible,  but  not  necessary). 
Since  that  time  different  concentric,  yea,  even  excen- 
tric  circles,  may  again  have  been  derived  from  the 
original  tradition,  but  these  may  not,  on  this  account, 
stand  in  irreconcilable  contradiction  with  each  other, 
or  the  genuine  original  tradition.  But  the  unity  of 
the  original  tradition  may  just  as  easily  have  been 
preserved  intact.  In  the  first  case,  the  author  of 
Genesis  may  have  really  drawn  from  two  different 
circles  of  tradition,  in  order  to  fill  out  and  complete 
the  one  from  the  other.  The  more  deep  and  heart- 
felt his  consciousness  in  this  case,  that  he  found  only 
truth  in  both,  or  rather,  that  he  took  only  truth  from 

ferent  records,  or  drew  his  materials  from  two  different  circles  of 
tradition,  saw  no  irreconcilable  contradiction  between  them  ;  for, 
otherwise,  he  would  have  certainly  composed  their  differences,  or 
have  confined  himself  alone  to  one  of  the  sources  of  information. 
If  the  author  of  Genesis  could  adopt  two  accounts  as  mutually 
completing  each  other,  it  assuredly  does  not  become  us,  even  in 
the  worst  case,  to  doubt  whether  the  two  be  reconcilable. 


88  BIBLICAL    THEORY   OP   THE   WOULD. 

them,  so  much  the  less  wonlcl  he  have  any  motive 
for  obliterating  the  duplex  source  of  his  materials. 
But,  in  the  other  case,  it  may  easily  be  supposed  that 
he  himself  formed  two  different  groups,  mutually 
completing  each  other,  out  of  the  different  parts  of 
the  genuine   and   undivided  tradition.^      We  shall 

'  The  case  remjiins  still  the  same,  even  though,  it  be  true,  as 
Delitzsch  latterly  maintains  [Auslegung der  Genesis,ljG\])z\g,  1S52), 
that  the  two  sections  are  not  the  oflspring  of  the  same  pen,  but 
the  second  the  product  of  another  author  {the  so-called  completer 
of  the  work).     It  must  be  said  in  favor  of  the  arguments  used  by 
Delitzsch,  that  they  are  altogether  the  fruit  of  legitimate  criticism, 
with  no  intermixture  of  dogmatic  im properties.     They  give  the 
hypothesis  touching  a  completion  of  the  Mosaic  Books  by  some 
other  hand,  such  a  shape,  that  there  is  no  call  for  opposition  to  it, 
from  the  purely  Biblical  stand-point.     They  still  accord  to  tha 
Book  of  Genesis,  and  the  Pentateuch  in  general,  the  fundamental 
position  in  respect  to  the  history  and  doctrines  of  redemption, 
which  is  the  indispensable  condition  of  a  correct  apprehension  of 
either  —  the  position  assigned  them  by  the  collector  of  the  canon, 
which  Christ  and  his  Apostles   confirmed,  and  which  both  the 
Jewish  and  Christian  Church  have  ever  acknowledged  as  their 
legitimate  one.     The  Pentateuch  still  remains  the  basis  of  all  the 
other  Books  of  the  Bible,  and  is  preparatory  to  them,  even  though 
it  did  not  all,  without  any  exception,    proceed  from  the  pen  of 
Moses,  but  rather,  was  completed  by  some  one  or  two  of  Moses' 
cotemporaries,  who  remained  subsequent  to  his  death.     Its  whole 
contents  are  still  Mosaic,  since  they  are  the  offspring  of  the  spirit 
and  school  of  Moses,     (According  to  Delitzsch,  Moses   himself 
wrote,  as  the  Pentateuch  itself  shows,  the  portion  of  the  law  con- 
tained in  Ex.  19 — 24,  and  several  smaller  sections  of  the  books 
of  the  law,  as  indicated  by  Ex.  17  :  14 ;  34  :  27  and  Num.  33  :  2. 
He  also  wrote,  according  to  Deut.  31  :  9,  the  whole  of  Deuter- 
onomy, except   its    close.     A  priestly  cotemporary  of  the    law- 
giver, perhaps  Eleazar,  wrote  the  rest  of  the  laws,  and,  adding 
them  to  the  portions  of  the  laws  written  by  Moses  himself,  gave 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CREATION.  89 

learn  further  on,  in  §  10,  what  may  have  led  to  such 
a  grouping. 

§  2.   Continuation. 

From  what  has  preceded,  we  have  learned  that  the 
Biblical  account  of  the  creation  and  the  primeval 
history  of  man,  in  Genesis  1-3,  is  derived  from  tradi- 
tion— from  that  tradition  which  was  preserved  by 
oral  transmission,  from  the  earliest  times  of  the  hu- 
man race,  down  to  the  time  of  the  author  of  Genesis, 
and  which  was  by  him  taken  up,  nnder  the  direction 
of  the  Spirit,  and  placed  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  as 
the  foundation  of  all  sacred  histories  and  teachino-s, 
and  thereby  divinely  sanctioned  and  approved. 

But  just  here  a  fresh,  a  weighty  inquiry  meets  us, 
to  w^hich  we  are  compelled  to  reply.  In  what  way 
and  by  what  means  did  the  first  framer  of  the  tradi- 
tion attain  to  a  knowledge  of  those  occurrences  which 
our   account   describes?     Part   of  it   may,  without 


the  whole  an  historical  foundation,  through  the  composition  of  the 
Book  of  Genesis.  A  second  cotemporary  of  Moses,  of  marked 
prophetic  tendency  of  mind,  conipleted  the  work  of  his  priestly 
predecessor,  by  the  addition  of  several  matters  of  special  import- 
ance in  his  view.  He  also  more  fully  developed  some  portions  of 
the  work,  revising  others,  and  subjoined  to  the  whole  the  Book 
of  Deuteronomy,  from  whence  he  derived  much  of  the  information 
he  possessed).  It  must  be  confessed  that  this  hypothesis  has 
much  to  claim  our  attention.  Still,  however,  there  are  a  few 
doubts  and  diflSculties  in  regard  to  its  correctness,  which  cannot 
be  solved  by  what  Delitzsch  has  thus  far  brought  forward  to 
establish  and  defend  it.  We  shall  refrain  for  the  present,  there- 
fore, from  a  decisive  judgment,  and  await  with  anxiety  his  prom- 
ised more  extended  treatment  of  the  subject. 
8* 


90  BIBLICAL   THEORY   OF   THE   WORLD. 

doubt,  be  referred  to  recollections  of  bis  life  and 
conscious  experience  on  tbe  part  of  tbe  first  man. 
But  anotber  part,  and  tbat  wbicL  is  particularly  im- 
portant for  tbe  purpose  we  bave  in  view,  seems  not 
to  be  referable  to  sucb  a  source.  Tbe  wbole  first  sec- 
tion, and  part  of  tbe  second,  treats  of  times  and  con- 
ditions, of  occurrences  and  developments,  wbicb  were 
never  witnessed  by  mortal  eye,  wbicb  lay  outside 
and  beyond  all  perceptions  and  recollections  of  man. 
Otber  means  and  powers  were  demanded  in  order 
to  gain  a  knowledge  of  tbat  pi^e-adamite  bistory,  tban 
tbose  wbicb  now  lie  witbin  tbe  power  of  man  wben 
investigating  tbe  past. 

We  bave  tbese  words  from  a  bigbly  respectable 
source:^  "We  take  tbe  account  of  tbe  creation  as 
it  ofiers  itself,  for  a  statement  of  tbe  knowledge  tbe 
first  man  bad,  of  wbat  preceded  bis  existence.  But 
be  may  bave  acquired  sucb  knowledge,  witbout  tbe 
necessary  interposition  of  a  special  revelation,  if  tbe 
tben  existing  condition  of  tbe  world  lay  as  clear  and 
transparent  before  bis  view,  as  tbe  Bible  leads  us  to 
believe  it  did.  Just  as,  in  our  day,  tbe  primeval  bis- 
tory of  tbe  eartb  is  disclosed  to  tbe  man  of  science, 
from  tbe  present  constitution  of  tbe  globe,  would  tbe 
tben  existing  state  of  tbe  world,  wbicb  was  clear  and 
legible  in  all  its  relations  to  tbe  first  man,  bave 
resolved  itself  into  a  bistory  of  tbe  origin  of  tbat 
world."  "  Tbe  account  of  tbe  creation  is  offered, 
neitber  as  tbe  result  of  musings  or  reveries  toucbing 
tbe  origin  of  tbe  world,  to  say  notbing  of  scientific 
researcb,  nor  yet  as  a  revelation  cojnpensating  for  re- 

1  Comp.  Hofmann,  Scliriflheweis,  Nurdl  1852,  I.  p.  232-243. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CREATION.  91 

flection  and  investigation,  but  as  an  account  of  the 
transmitted  contemplations  or  views  of  the  first  man." 

This  view  of  the  case  assumes  in  the  first  place, 
that  the  conception  of  the  history  of  the  creation 
belonged  wholly  to  a  time  preceding  the  fall  of  man: 
and  next,  that  man  possessed  before  the  fall,  what  he 
has  since  lost,  the  ability  to  perceive,  with  a  clear, 
penetrating  and  unerring  glance,  the  essence  of  all 
created  things,  not  only  as  to  their  existence,  but  also 
as  to  the  history  of  their  origin;  without  being  com- 
pelled as  our  modern  students  of  nature  "  to  break 
with  the  hammer  and  cut  with  the  scalpel,  in  order 
to  get  at  the  core  of  things."  ''  They  were,"  as  one 
says,^  "  transparent  and  plain  to  him,  without  any 
effort  on  his  part." 

Let  us  first  try  the  correctness  of  the  second  as- 
sumption. It  appears  to  be  legitimate  and  well- 
grounded  from  what  the  record  (Chap.  2,)  says  of 
man  and  his  original  state.  Wg  there  perceive  that 
man  was  able,  on  the  first  view  of  the  animal 
world  as  it  passed  before  him,  to  give  to  each  creature 
its  proper  name ;  we  further  perceive,  that  his  first 
glance  at  woman,  just  then  created,  revealed  to  him 
her  origin,  her  nature,  and  her  mission,  with  unmis- 
takable clearness  and  certainty.  Is  not  this  view 
of  the  case  hereby  sufiiciently  established  and  justi- 
fied ?  Are  we  not  warranted  in  the  conclusion,  that 
he  who  at  the  first  glance  perceived  both  the  origin 
and  mission  of  woman,  as  well  as  the  nature  and 
properties  of  the  animals,  must  also  have  been  capa- 
ble of  understanding,  in  the  same  manner,  the  his- 

'  Fr.  Delitzsch,  Genesis,  p.  49. 


92  BIBLICAL   THEORY   OF   THE   WORLD. 

tory  of  the  origin  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  of 
seas  and  mountains,  of  plants  and  animals  ?  It 
would,  indeed,  appear  so.  But  if  we  examine  the 
account  (Chap.  1-3,)  more  closely,  if  we  take  into 
consideration  all  its  points  with  that  care  and  scrutiny 
which  their  importance  demands,  not  separating  in- 
dividual parts,  hut  rather  apprehending  them  in  their 
organic  relation  to  the  whole,  we  shall  immediately 
come  to  a  diiferent  conclusion. 

A  numher  of  explicit  disclosures  of  the  text  mili- 
tate against  such  a  supposition. 

God  left  the  naming  of  woman  and  the  animals 
to  man ;  but  He  gave  names  to  the  heavens  and  the 
earth,  to  day  and  night,  to  the  land  and  the  sea. 
Wherefore  such  a  distinction  in  the  important  act 
of  giving  names  ?  If  the  act  of  giving  names  was 
a  revelation  on  the  part  of  man,  that  is,  an  exhibi- 
tion of  the  knowledge  he  possessed  of  the  nature  of 
what  he  named,  so  likewise  was  the  act  of  naming 
on  the  part  of  God,  a  revelation  of  God.  And  yet, 
"  revelation  is  not  to  compensate  for  reflection  and 
investigation  on  the  part  of  man."  Why  then  did 
not  God  leave  the  naming  of  those  other  objects  to 
man,  if  he  was  capable  of  perceiving  their  nature 
and  history  by  direct  contemplation  or  intuition  ? 

And  did  the  qualification  on  the  part  of  man  to 
give  names  to  animals,  really  and  necessarily  involve 
such  a  knowledge  of  them,  as  that  whereby  he  could 
by  direct  contemplation  apprehend  not  only  their 
nature  and  manner  of  existence,  but  also  their  origin 
and  previous  development  —  not  only  their  present 
subsistence^  but  also  the  manner  of  their  origin  ?     May 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CREATION.  03 

not  the  former  without  the  latter  be  regarded  as  a  suf- 
ficient basis  upon  which  to  ground  the  naming  of  th^e 
animals  ?  But  even  this  limitation  will  not  meet 
the  demands  of  the  case.  Anions;  the  animals  to 
which  man  gave  names,  was  the  serpent  also,  for 
according  to  Chap.  2:  19,  20,  he  gave  names  to  "all 
the  beasts  of  the  field."  Man  named  the  serpent  at 
least,  without  having  perceived  and  tltGrougldy  under- 
stood its  tvliole  being,  its  position,  and  its  significance. 
He  named  it,  indeed,  but  still  there  was  one  part  of 
its  constitution  that  he  did  not  understand — that  it 
"  was  more  subtile  than  any  beast  of  the  field  which 
the  Lord  God  had  made."  Had  he  from  the  first 
clearly  and  distinctly  seen  the  liar  and  deceiver  in  it, 
which  it  afterwards  showed  itself  to  be,  he  would 
not  so  readily  have  listened  to  its  deceptive  Avords.^ 
But  did  man  indeed  at  the  first  glance  fully  under- 
stand the  nature  of  woman  ?  and  not  only  her  present 
nature,  but  also  her  origin  in  the  past,  and  even  her 
position  in  the  future  ? 

The  former  must  be  allowed ;  whether  or  not  the 
latter  also,  is  still  at  least  a  question.^  At  all  events, 
any  positive  conclusion  that  because  man  could  un- 
derstand the  origin  and  nature  of  woman,  therefore 
he  could  also  understand  the  origin  and  nature  of  all 
other  creatures,  with  equal  thoroughness  and  cer- 

'  The  author  would  ask  that  objections  to  the  views  here  ad- 
vanced might  be  withheld  until  after  the  perusal  of  I  26. 

2  AVhen  we  observe  that  Christ  (Matt.  19  :  5)  cites  the  words 
of  the  24th  verse,  as  the  words  of  God,  we  shall  be  inclined,  with 
Delitzsch  [Genesis,  p.  114)  ,to  regard  them  not  as  the  words  of 
x\dam,  but  as  the  words  of  the  narrator,  intended  further  to 
develop  what  is  said  by  Adam  in  the  23d  verse. 


94  BIBLICAL   THEORY   OF   THE   WORLD. 

tainty,  must  be  rejected  as  arbitrary  and  illegitimate. 
For  the  creation  of  woman  was  not,  as  that  of  all 
the  other  creatures,  prior  to  the  time  of  his  own 
existence ;  and  although  the  very  moment  of  her 
origin  was  during  his  sleep,  3'et  the  origin  itself  was 
of  such  a  nature  that  he  could  not  fail  to  divine  it 
with  certainty,  without  such  faculties  of  universal 
knowledge. 

But  we  have  express  witness  to  the  fact  that  the 
first  man  did  not  understand  everything  he  w^as  con- 
versant with,  in  its  nature  and  origin.  The  tree  of 
knowledge  stood  in  the  midst  of  the  garden;  but 
man  was  not  able  himself  to  divine  its  nature  and 
design.  He  knew  not  that  he  dare  not  eat  of  it,  as 
he  might  of  all  the  trees  of  the  garden.  God  him- 
self had  to  point  out  the  qualities  of  that  tree,  by 
revelation.  Adam  knew  not  that  eating  of  that  tree 
would  be  followed  by  death.  He  must  be  told  so 
expressly  by  God  himself. 

But,  even  allowing  that  man  possessed  before  the 
fall,  such  a  clear  and  penetrating  glance,  that  his 
vision  pierced  to  the  inmost  essence  of  all  things  — 
such  a  happy  faculty  of  making  combinations,  that 
the  knowledge  of  the  wxn-ld  as  it  was  then  consti- 
tuted, would  immediately  transport  him  to  the  know- 
ledsre  of  its  oris^in — the  text  still  offers  much  that 
cannot  be  explained ;  it  contains  even  then  points,  to 
the  knowledge  of  which  many  could  attain  only  by 
means  of  special  revelation. 

We  can,  for  example,  on  such  a  supposition,  con- 
ceive even  that  man  may  have  understood  the  series 
of  the  creations,  and  the  number  of  the   creative 


HISTORY    or    THE    CREATION.  95 

acts,  from  the  character  or  arrangement  of  what  ^yv■s 
created ;  but  we  can  scarcely  imagine  how"  he  could 
learn  from  w^hat  appeared  before  his  eyes,  the  num- 
ber of  the  days  of  creation,  and  the  actual  distribu- 
tion of  those  eight  acts  of  creation  among  the  six 
days.  But  it  is  absolutely  inconceivable  how  he 
could  have  learned,  without  revelation,  though  the 
world  lay  clear  and  transparent  before  him,  of  the 
blessing  of  the  seventh  day  and  its  being  hallow^ed 
as  a  day  of  rest  for  man. 

But  if  we  proceed  from  an  examination  of  the 
details,  to  the  more  general  points  w^hich  here  come 
into  consideration,  we  shall  see  far  more  clearly  and 
distinctly  the  inadmissibility  and  erroneousness  of 
such  a  view. 

Although  God  declared  at  the  close  of  the  six 
days'  work  of  creation,  that  all  he  had  made  was 
good,  "very  good,"  still  we  soon  discover  that  evil 
was  already  in  existence.  Man  was  designed  to 
learn  to  know  good  and  evil,  without  himself  becom- 
ing sinful.  Consequently,  evil  must  have  existed 
externally  to  man,  which  it  was  necessary  for  him  to 
know  and  overcome.  And  from  the  very  fact  that 
his  whole  spiritual  development,  his  self-determina- 
tion, his  probation,  his  voluntary  activity,  in  a  word, 
his  history  should  and  must  begin  with  the  know- 
ledge and  mastery  of  this  evil  —  from  this  very  fact 
we  perceive  with  what  significance,  power,  and  all- 
pervading  influence  it  bore  upon  man  and  his  his- 
tory. The  antagonism  between  good  and  evil,  for 
the  solution  of  which,  man  before  all  others  must 
become  acquainted  wdth  it,  must  be  so  universal  and 


96  BIBLICAL    THEORY   OF   THE   WORLD. 

SO  real,  as  to  pervade  and  affect  the  whole  intricate 
web  of  his  life  ;  so  that  he  might  never  move  or  act 
in  the  whole  circle  of  his  destiny,  without  coming  in 
conflict  with  it;  so  that  there  might  be  absolutely 
no  point  where  he  could  begin  to  realize  his  destin}^ 
without  being  surrounded  by  it.  Acqnaintance  with 
this  antagonism  was,  therefore,  the  necessary  begin- 
ning of  all  knowledge.  A  knowledge  of  the  present 
might  and  did  exist  before  such  an  acquaintance, 
(and  from  this  must  we  derive  the  ability  to  name 
the  animals  j^roperly) ;  but  a  just,  true,  and  deep 
Jcnotvledge,  a  diving  into  the  depths  of  being,  into 
the  secrets  of  what  exists  and  what  is  now  com- 
ing into  existence,  into  the  relations  between  the 
present  and  the  past,  was  wholly  out  of  the  question, 
without  a  knowledge  of  the  antagonism  between 
good  and  evil — withont  snch  a  knowledge  as  would 
enable  man  to  master  and  solve  the  strange  contra- 
diction. 'No  just  knowledge  of  things  could  exist 
before  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil.  The  condi- 
tion of  all  knowledge,  was  the  knowledge  of  good 
and  evil.^ 

Had  man,  therefore,  acqnired  the  contents  of  our 
account,  by  being  transported  from  an  insight  into 

'  Man  (lid,  indeed,  attain  to  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil, 
by  means  of  the  fall,  but  not  in  the  proper  icay,  and  hence  not 
to  the  jyroper  knowledge.  The  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  he  had 
now  acquired,  was  the  very  reverse  of  that  knowledge  he  could 
and  should  have  obtained.  As  he  did  not  rightly  apprehend  and 
understand  good,  so  neither  did  he  truly  understand  evil.  Not 
until,  by  means  of  redemption,  he  attains  to  a  complete  know- 
ledge of  good,  shall  he  possess  a  complete  understanding  of  evil. 
Progress  in  these  two  kinds  of  knowledge  goes  hand  in  hand. 


HISTORY     OF    THE     CREATION.  97 

the  essence  of  all  created  things  which  lay  clear  and 
legible  before  his  eyes,  to  a  knowledge  of  the  origin 
of  all  these,  he  must  first  of  all  have  discovered  the 
origin,  nature,  and  existence  of  evil.  Passing  by 
entirely  the  fact  that  the  subsequent  test  of  his  know- 
ledge would  thereby  have  become  superfluous,  we 
would  merely  remark  that  the  whole  account,  both 
in  the  first  and  second  sections,  contains  not  the  least 
hint  as  to  the  origin  of  evil,  then  assumed  to  be  in 
existence ;  yea,  even  then  about  to  make  its  impress 
upon  history.  The  origin  and  all-pervading  influence 
of  evil  could  not  have  escaped  a  glance  which  pierced 
to  the  inmost  essence  of  things,  which  fathomed,  by 
means  of  its  native  powers  of  vision,  the  whole  his- 
tory of  all  origins  and  beginnings.  It  is,  hence, 
wdiolly  impossible  that  the  account  of  the  pre-ada- 
mite  history  should  have  proceeded  from  the  indi- 
vidual contemplations  of  the  first  man.  This  silence 
concerning  evil,  even  then  in  existence,  can  be  ex- 
plained only  by  admitting  that  the  facts  of  the  ac- 
count were  communicated  to  man  ;  that  the  sovereign 
judgment  of  a  wdse  Teacher  and  Instructor,  yet  for 
a  while  wisely  set  limits  to  the  knowledge  of  his 
pupil.  In  short,  the  contents  of  the  account,  so  far 
as  they  reach  beyond  the  experience  of  man,  must 
be  a  revelation  from  God  to  man;  a  revelation  which 
made  known  to  him  only  so  much  concerning  the  m^^s- 
terious  events  of  the  past,  as  was  at  the  time  neces- 
sary and  useful  for  him ;  which  reserved  the  filling 
up  of  its  chasms  and  the  development  of  its  hints, 
for  a  more  experienced  and  mature  age  of  the  pupil. 
The  same  result  is  obtained  from  other  sources. 
9 


98  BIBLICAL    TIIEOKY    OF   THE   WORLD. 

We,  too,  indeed,  are  convinced  that  man  in  liis  ori- 
ginal state  was  called,  and  therefore  endowed  with  the 
capacity  to  understand  all  things  in  their  inmost  es- 
sence, according  to  their  relations  to  each  other,  and 
as  to  their  origin  and  design.  We  are  forced  to  as- 
sume this,  from  the  position  accorded  to  man  by  the 
account  of  the  creation,  and  the  mission  assigned  to 
him  to  rule  the  whole  earth,  with  all  its  creatures. 
For,  were  he  to  rule  over  them,  he  must  understand 
them;  he  must  know  what  they  are,  wdience  they 
are,  and  what  they  were  designed  for. 

We  are  even  further  convinced  that  man,  had  not 
the  catastrophe  of  the  fall  impaired  his  original  facul- 
ties and  transferred  him  to  a  wdiolly  different  stage 
of  development,  would  have  attained  to  that  know- 
ledge in  the  way  heretofore  specified  —  that  of  direct 
intuition,  or  immediate  contemplation  —  and  that 
the  essence  of  created  things  would  have  been  fully 
disclosed  to  his  sovereign  glance,  without  using  the 
scalpel  of  the  anatomist,  the  hammer  of  the  geolo- 
gist, the  telescope  of  the  astronomer,  or  the  micro- 
scope of  the  naturalist;  in  a  word,  w^ithout  any  of 
the  astonishing  yet  necessarily  feeble  helps  modern 
science  makes  use  of,  in  order  to  understand  the 
mere  surface  of  things. 

But,  on  the  contrary,  w^e  must  most  decidedly  re- 
ject, as  false  and  erroneous,  and  as  in  direct  conflict 
with  the  Bible,  the  view  that  in  the  short  time  man 
retained  his  original  position,  his  innate  capacities  for 
such  a  knowledge  had  been  sufficiently  developed,  and 
his  vocation  thus  to  know  had  already  been  realized. 

Man  was  created  perfect,  and  ''very  good;"  but 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CREATION.  99 

his  innate  perfection  was  a  perfection  needing  deve- 
lopment, and  possessi7ig  powers  of  development;  for 
he  was  created  a  free  personal  being,  with  the  design 
that  he  shonld  determine  himself,  by  an  act  of  Ins 
own  free  will,  to  that  end  whereto  God  had  appointed 
him ;  that  he  should  unfold  the  energies  and  facul- 
ties his  Creator  had  lent  him,  and  thus  realize  his 
vocation.  His  powers  of  knowledge,  just  as  all 
faculties  and  natural  talents,  demanded  a  progressive 
development,  in  order  to  attain  to  complete,  all-com- 
prehending, and  all-pervading  Icnoivledge.  What  is 
set  forth  as  the  end  of  the  development  must  never 
be  looked  upon  as  its  beginning. 

This  is  precisely  the  view  exhibited  on  the  face  of 
our  record.  The  first  section^  mentions  this  as  the 
destination  or  appointment  of  man,  that  he  should 
rule  the  whole  earth,  and  all  that  was  thereon.  But 
that  this  destination  was  the  end  of  his  development, 
and  not  its  beginning^  appears  clearly  from  this  fact, 
that  the  multiplication  of  the  race  and  the  replenish- 
ing of  the  earth  was  plainly  made  the  condition  and 
foundation  of  this  wide  exercise  of  authority."^  This 
is  further  established  by  the  second  section,^  which 
describes  not  the  end  or  goal  of  the  development 
of  man,  but  its  beginning.  There  it  is  said,  not 
that  he  should  rule  the  zvhole  earth,  but  merely  that 
he  should  dress  and  keep  the  Garden  of  Eden.  The 
realization  of  that  authority  man  was  to  have  over 
the  earth,  which  presupposed  a  knowledge  of  what 
was  to  be  ruled,  was  thus  to  commence  at  some  one 

'  Chap.  1.  2  Chap.  1 :  28.  »  Chap.  2. 


100         BIBLICAL   THEORY   OF   THE   WORLD. 

point  upon  the  earth.  From  thence  it  was  to  extend 
gradually,  by  a  steady  progress,  over  the  whole  earth. 

Finally,  that  the  view  we  have  been  controverting 
is  an  erroneous  one,  appears  also  from  the  fact,  that, 
when  consistently  applied  and  carried  out,  there  is 
no  room  left  for  the  necessity  of  Divine  revelation  in 
the  hi^ioY J  previous  to  the  entrance  of  sin  ;  while  the 
history  before  the  fall,  as  represented  by  Chap.  2, 
bears  witness  to  the  habitual  employment  of  Divine 
revelation,  as  a  real,  historical  fact,  and  leads  us  to 
infer  that  it  was  needful  and  necessary,  since  it  was 
really  employed. 

Had  man  been  able  by  means  of  his  native  powers 
and  ever -abiding  endowments,  to  discern  from  the 
first  moment  of  his  existence,  with  a  clear,  penetra- 
ting and  unerring  glance,  the  nature  and  essence  of 
created  things,  and  to  understand  them  and  all  their 
mutual  influences  and  relations,  in  their  cause  and 
origin,  in  their  beginning,  progress  and  end — we  can- 
not see  how  he  could  still  need  special  Divine  instruc- 
tions and  revelations,  in  order  to  fulfil  his  mission. 

The  Bible  takes  a  wholly  difi'erent  view  of  the  case. 
According  to  it,  the  first  man  appears  as  a  being  de- 
signed for  a  high  end,  and  therefore  highly  gifted, 
whose  gifts  or  talents  were  not  yet  developed  and 
actively  employed,  whose  vocation  was  not  yet  re- 
alized and  maintained,  but  was  to  be  hereafter.  And 
in  order  that  it  might  be,  that  his  talents  might  be 
properly  developed,  that  his  vocation  might  not  be 
missed,  he  was  surrounded  on  all  sides,  and  in  every 
step  he  took,  by  Divine  instructions,  teachings,  ad- 
monitions, and  warnings. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CREATION.  101 

Revelation,  most  assuredly,  was  never  designed  to 
compensate  for  investigation  and  reflection  on  the  part 
of  man,  either  before  or  since  the  fall ;  but  it  was 
intended  to  direct  these  into  the  right  paths,  preserve 
them  from  errors,  strengthen  them,  restore  and  purify 
them,  where  this  was  needed,  supply  their  failings 
and  fill  up  their  chasms.  Sufficient  occasion  was  of- 
fered for  this  design,  not  only  in  the  perverted  and 
degenerate  state  of  man  after  the  fall,  but  also  in  his 
undeveloped  state  before  the  fall,  surrounded  as  he 
was  by  dangers,  yet  ignorant  of  them. 

We  now  proceed  to  the  examination  of  the  other 
supposition  upon  which  Hofmann  founds  his  view — 
the  supposition  that  the  process  of  the  creation,  as 
mentioned  in  Genesis  1  and  2,  was  known  and  com- 
prehended by  the  first  man,  before  the  fall. 

Even  if  we  are  forced  to  admit  the  correctness  of 
this  supposition,  the  result  of  our  previous  inquiry — 
that  the  account  of  the  creation  is  not  to  be  referred 
to  contemplations  of  nature  on  the  part  of  the  first 
man,  but  rather  to  supernatural  revelations  from  a 
Divine  instructor — still  remains. 

But  we  cannot  admit  its  correctness,  since  the  his- 
tor}^  of  the  first  man,  as  described  in  Genesis  2  and 
3,  allows  no  room  for  it,  since  the  unique  and  closely 
connected  progress  of  this  history  excludes  it. 

Chap.  2,  describes  the  primeval  history  of  the  de- 
velopments of  man — how  he  progressed  under  the 
guidance  and  heavenly  teachings  of  a  watchful  and 
Divine  instructor.  "When  God  placed  man  in  the 
garden,  he  was  yet  without  knowledge.  This  he  was 
first  to  gain  in  the  Garden  of  Eden.     But  least  of  all 


102         BIBLICAL   THEORY    OF   THE   WOULD. 

could  man  already,  at  that  time,  have  possessed  that 
profound  discernment  and  comprehensive  knowledge 
exhibited  in  the  first  Chap,  of  Genesis.  The  ignor- 
ance which  the  instructions  given  by  God  to  Adam 
pre-suppose,  would  strangely  harmonize  with  such 
a  state  of  the  case.  The  consciousness  of  man  was 
yet  at  this  time  "  carte  blanche.^'  He  must,  there- 
fore, have  acquired  such  an  understanding  of  the 
whole  previous  occurrence  of  the  creation,  during  his 
stay  in  the  garden  !  But  this  is  wholly  out  of  the 
question,  since  the  progress  of  his  development  dur- 
ing this  time  was  so  systematic,  so  coherent,  so  deci- 
sively and  exclusively  directed  towards  the  one  fixed 
goal — that  of  preparing  man  for  his  decisive  trial — 
that  there  w^as  no  time  for  it.  Everything  that  did 
not  directly  serve  this  end,  would  not  have  furthered 
his  development,  but  hindered  and  retarded  it,  and 
all  new  knowledge  which  did  not  bear  upon  the  point 
in  view,  would,  for  the  time,  have  been  foreign,  ir- 
relevant and  distracting.  But  this  much  is  clear, 
that  the  whole  account  in  Genesis  1,  contains  nothing 
at  all  to  the  purpose,  in  view  of  the  preparatives  to 
the  trial  of  man.  Consequently,  the  conception  of 
its  contents  cannot  pertain  to  the  time  before  the 
fall. 

God  placed  man  in  the  garden,  for  there  his  great 
trial  was  to  come  to  pass,  and  caused  him  to  pro- 
gress step  by  step,  in  the  attainment  of  all  such 
knowledge  as  was  required  for  his  decision,  and 
allowed  him  to  realize  those  developments  which 
were  the  preliminary  conditions  of  that  decision. 
There  was,  while  there,  no  time,  no  occasion,  and  no 


HISTORY    OF    THE     CREATION.  103 

grounds  for  the  conception  of  what  was  so  foreign 
to  this  design,  as  the  contents  of  the  first  Chapter  of 
Genesis. 

If,  therefore,  the  first  man  was  at  all  acquainted 
with  the  substance  of  the  first  Chapter  of  Genesis, 
he  could  only  have  attained  to  such  knowledge  sub- 
seqiienthj  to  the  fall.  He  carried  with  him  from 
Paradise,  recollections  merely  of  what  he  had  there 
experienced,  and  of  what  he  had  learned  from  Di- 
vine Revelation.  But  the  history  of  the  creation  of 
the  earth  was  not  included  in  these. 

The  recollections  of  his  individual  experiences 
previous  to  the  fall,  constituted  the  first  germ  of  that 
self-propagating  tradition,  which  after  the  fall  began 
to  take  form,  and  passed  from  mouth  to  mouth, 
down  to  the  time  of  Noah,  to  that  of  Abraham,  to 
that  of  Moses. 

This  tradition  was  enlarged  by  the  absorption  of 
post-paradisiacal  histories ;  but  it  was  also  enlarged 
in  another  direction,  by  the  reception  of  the  history 
antecedent  to  man's  abode  in  Paradise,  that  is,  the 
histor}^  of  the  origin  of  all  created  things,  which 
could  be  disclosed  to  the  mind  of  man,  only  by  means 
of  revelation. 

We  might  next  inquire  whether  this  history  was 
made  known  to  Adam  by  revelation,  or  whether  it 
was  imparted  to  the  next  generation  by  some  man 
of  God  —  some  one  who,  like  Enoch,  "walked  with 
God,"^  and  to  whom,  divinely  illumined,  the  facts 
of  pr^-historical  times  were  disclosed,  in  like  manner 
as  the  scenes  of  the  future  judgment  were,  according 

•  Gen.  5  :  22. 


104         BIBLICAL    THEORY   OF    THE   WORLD. 

to  an  old  tradition  sanctioned  by  tlie  l^ew  Testa- 
ment, laid  open  to  the  illumined  vision  of  Enoch 
himself: — but  the  necessary  data  are  wanting  upon 
which  to  venture  a  satisfectory  reply  to  such  an 
inquiry. 

Still,  however,  we  cannot  repress  a  conjecture 
which  appears  at  least  to  possess"'  much  probability. 

If  we  examine  more  closely  the  account  of  the 
creation  in  the  first  Chapter  of  Genesis,  we  shall  see 
that  it  is  the  ofispring  of  a  fixed,  evident,  and  ex- 
press design,  or  at  least  that  it  points  to  and  serves 
such  a  design,  namely,  that  of  giving  a  foundation 
to  the  hallowing  of  the  Sabbath  day,  as  of  Divine 
institution,  as  a  day  adapted  to  the  religious  duties 
and  wants  of  man.  As  God  rested  on  the  seventh 
day,  after  the  work  of  six  days,  so  also,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  Divine  example  and  will,  must  man 
work  six  da^^s,  and  rest  from  his  earthty  labors  on 
the  seventh.  We  therefore  think,  and  not  without 
reason,  that  here,  in  Gen.  2  :  1,  3,  may  be  found  a 
hint  as  to  the  occasion  and  aim  of  this  revelation  of 
the  history  bf  the  creation.  If  we  inquire  further 
for  historical  grounds  upon  which  to  rest  such  an 
origin  of  the  account,  we  shall  find  in  Gen.  4 :  26, 
that  at  the  time  when  a  son  named  Enos  was  born 
to  Seth,  the  son  of  Adam,  "men  first  began  to  call 
upon  the  name  of  the  Lord."  These  words  are  not 
equivocal.  They  give  an  account  of  the  first  insti- 
tution of  a  formal,  solemn,  and  public  worship  of 
God  or  Jehovah.  Here  we  find,  instead  of  a  merely 
private,  arbitrary,  and  irregular  worshipping  of  God, 
as  for  example,  the  sacrificial  ofierings  of  Cain  and 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CREATION.  105 

Abel,  the  introdactioii  of  a  common  and  general 
divine  service.  The  first  exigency  in  such  a  case 
would  be,  the  fixing  of  a  time  of  worship,  and  this 
time  would  be  determined  by  the  Sabbath,  the  arche- 
type, the  model  and  key-note  of  all  times  of  worship. 

Are  we  extreme^  in  conjecture  when  we  suppose 
that  the  revelation  of  the  history  of  the  creation 
pertained  to  this  time,  so  that  it  might  serve  as  a 
basis  to  this  sacred  institution. 

Whether  Seth  himself,  or  Adam,  who  was  then 
still  living,  or  some  other  cotemporary,  was  the 
medium  of  this  revelation,  we  cannot,  of  course, 
determine. 

§  3.   Continuation. 

The  revealed  history  of  the  creation  was  given  as 
the  communication  of  a  knowledge  of  the  past — of 
such  occurrences  as  had  taken  place  before  the  con- 
scious existence  of  man.  In  what  form  and  in  wliat 
manner  may  we  suppose  this  communication  to  the 
human  mind  to  have  taken  place  ?  And  how, 
regarding  it  as  such,  must  we  aj)prehend  and  inter- 
pret it  ? 

The  source  of  all  human  history  is  autopsy,  or  per- 
sonal obsei-vation  on  the  part  of  man,  whether  it  be 
that  of  the  author  of  the  history  himself,  or  whether 
he  have  transmitted  to  him  the  observations  and  ex- 
periences of  others.      JSTothing  but  wliat  has  been 


'  Let  it  not  be  objected  here  that  this  worship  concerned  Je- 
Jiovali,  whilst  the  account  of  the  creation  recognizes  the  name 
Elohim  only.  The  mention  of  Jehovah-Elohim,  in  Gen.  2  :  4 
seq.,  is  sufficient  to  remove  all  difficulty. 


106         BIBLICAL   THEORY   OF   THE   WORLD. 

seen  or  experienced  by  man  himself  can  be  a  subject 
of  human  historical  description.  History,  such  as 
man  is  capable  of  writing,  can  commence  only  where 
he  himself,  or  his  race,  has  arrived  at  self-conscious- 
ness, or  a  knowledge  of  the  world,  where  (whether 
active  or  passive)  he  himself  is  the  beholder  of  what 
occurs ;  and  it  must  ever  end  with  the  present  mo- 
ment. But  there  lies  a  succession  of  being  beyond 
each  of  these  limits ;  a  development,  therefore  also 
a  history, —  behind,  as  the  past,  before,  as  the  future. 
For  when  man  begins  to  observe  or  construct  his- 
tory, himself  and  all  the  attendants  and  circum- 
stances of  his  being  already  exist,  or  have  come  into 
being;  nor  does  the  stream  of  the  development  stop 
with  the  present ;  the  thread  is  not  cut  off,  but  spun 
and  drawn  out  further  by  the  countless  bands  and 
secret  influences  of  both  the  visible  and  invisible 
world.  All  take  part  in  spinning  this  mysterious 
thread,  but  no  one  is  able  to  divine  what  form  the 
common,  the  final  product  of  all  these  workmen, 
shall  receive.  Both  these  histories,  therefore,  lie 
w^ithout  the  sphere  of  human  knowledge,  for  it  is 
confined  to  time  and  space,  and  is  able  to  rule  and 
take  possession  of  the  present  only.  God  alone,  who 
dwells  beyond  and  superior  to  time  and  space, 
glances  backwards  and  forwards,  beholding  as  clearly 
the  developments  previous  to  the  first  moment  of 
man's  existence,  as  those  in  advance  of  the  present 
moment.  However  different  these  two  histories  may 
be,  yet  are  they  both  on  the  same  level  with  respect 
to  the  ground  of  man's  ignorance  of  them,  or  ac- 
quaintance with  them.     The  ground  of  his  ignorance 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CREATION.  107 

is  his  finite  nature ;  the  ground  of  his  hnoicledge  lies 
in  the  hnoivledge  God  possesses,  and  the  medium  be- 
tween ignorance  and  knowledge  is,  objectively,  Di- 
vine revelation,  and,  subjectively,  prophetic  contempla- 
tion 071  the  part  of  man,  who  beholds  therein,  with 
the  spiritual  eye,  what  is  excluded  and  hidden  from 
the  bodily  eye.  Since,  therefore,  the  source  of  know- 
ledge is  the  same  with  respect  to  both  histories,  and 
also  the  manner  and  means  of  its  attainment — spirit- 
ual prophetic  autopsy — so  must  also  in  both  cases 
the  historical  representations  founded  upon  such  au- 
topsy, stand  on  the  same  level  as  to  truthfulness,  and 
be  interpreted  and  apprehended  according  to  the 
same  laws.  Thus,  therefore,  we  come  into  posses- 
sion of  the  very  important  hermeneutical  rule,  that 
representations  of pre-adamite  developments,  founded 
upon  revelation,  must  be  viewed  from  the  same  stand- 
point, and  interpreted  according  to  the  same  laws, 
as  prophecies  and  sketches  oi  future  times  and  deve- 
lopments, founded  also  upon  revelation.  And  this 
is  indeed  the  only  proper  stand-point  for  the  scientific 
exposition  of  the  Mosaic  history  of  the  creation  — 
so  long  as  we  acknowledge  in  it  a  record  which  has 
proceeded  neither  from  the  speculations  of  natural 
philosophers,  nor  from  empirical  science,  nor  yet 
from  abstract  reasonings  of  men,  but  fi'om  Divine 
revelation. 

But  we  must  remember  that  the  conception  of  de- 
velopments lying  outside  of  all  human  observation, 
is  totally  diiferent  from  that  of  the  facts  of  experi- 
ence. There  we  behold  with  the  spiritual,  here  with 
the  bodily  eye.     Here  we  are  governed  by  the  sober 


108  BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

and  uinmpassioned  spirit  of  every-day  life,  with  its 
keen  and  unfailing  eye  for  the  ontward  relations  of 
things,  while  their  inner  character  and  deep  signifi- 
cance escape  notice ;  but  there  the  beholder  finds 
himself  in  a  state  sublimely  surpassing  all  ordinary 
experience,  and  his  vision  rendered  clear  for  behold- 
ing the  secret  connection  of  things.  But  at  the  same 
time  he  loses  his  interest  for  their  outw^ard  relations 
and  connections,  and  along  with  it,  his  ability  to 
apprehend  them  clearly.  The  bodily  eye  looks  upon 
that  A\'hich  is  material;  it  is  confined  to  the  mere 
form  of  what  appears,  to  the  outward  connections 
of  things,  Avhich  are  indeed  often  wholly  accidental, 
and  without  any  necessity.  It  seeks  for  points  of 
repose  in  outward  circumstances;  but  as  these  are 
often  merely  deceptive  appearances,  it  thus  frequently 
loses  the  secret  connection,  the  intrinsic  worth,  the 
higher  significance  and  true  position  of  things.  It 
is  directly  the  reverse  with  spiritual  vision.  This  is 
directed  to  the  spiritual  element  of  what  appears  in 
external  manifestation ;  it  regards  with  indifference 
all  outward,  accidental,  and  secondary  relations, 
which  miirht  be  totally  different  without  chan2:ino^ 
the  nature  of  the  thing,  and  hence  possess  no  interest 
or  significance  for  it.  It  pierces  to  the  core  of  the 
matter,  and  thus  often  overlooks  the  external  features, 
the  outward  connections  of  things,  the  circumstances 
of  the  manifestation.  Besides,  we  must  remember 
that  the  objective  contents  of  wdiat  is  divinelj^  re- 
vealed to  man,  accommodates  itself  to  the  subjective 
posture  and  capacities,  and  also  to  the  existing  wants 
of  the  mind  to  which  it  is  communicated;  so  that 


HISTORY    OF    THE    CREATION.  109 

we  slioiild  bj  no  means  expect  to  find  in  the  history 
of  tlie  creation,  solutions  of  all  possible  questions, 
especially  of  such  as  can  only  be  raised  in  an  ad- 
vanced state  of  scientifi.c  inquiry ;  but  only  of  such 
as  are  of  general  religious  importance,  and  of  equally 
deep  interest  in  all  ages  of  the  world. 

From  what  has  been  said,  it  is  clear  that  the  his- 
torical representation  of  the  prophetic  contempla- 
tions, and  the  reality  of  an  occurrence  as  it  comes  to 
pass  and  is  seen  in  vision,  must  absolutely  agree,  in 
their  essential  features — those  essential  to  the  mind 
beholding,  and  those  essential  to  the  deep  significance 
of  the  facts  themselves — but  by  no  means  that  all 
outward,  accidental  and  secondary  circumstances  of 
the  passing  event,  must,  of  necessity,  be  closely  ap- 
prehended, and  minutely  depicted  in  the  account 
given  by  the  prophet.  We  must  ever  keep  this  in 
mind  in  our  apprehensions  of  prophetic  histories; 
and  it  must  be  conceded  that  arbitrary  interpretation 
cannot  conceal  tlie  fiact  that  this  fundamental  princi- 
ple arises  from  the  very  nature  of  the  matter  itself. 
We  must  necessarily  wait,  in  the  explanation  of  pro- 
phetic histories  of  the  future,  until  they  are  realized, 
in  order  to  learn  their  outward  features  and  charac- 
teristics, their  outward  connections  and  accidental 
circumstances.  We  can,  of  course,  entertain  no 
such  hopes  with  respect  to  the  (past)  history  of  the 
creation,  but  still,  perhaps  we  possess  a  substitute  for 
them,  in  the  progress  of  modern  empirical  science, 
which,  so  far  as  it  is  able  to  draw,  from  a  thoroughly 
explored  "statu  quo" — from  the  autopsy  of  what 
now  exists  —  reliable  conclusions  concerning  the 
10 


110         BIBLICAL   THEORY   OF   THE    WORLD. 

history  of  its  origin,  can  also,  in  a  certain  degree, 
recur  to  the  outward  reality  of  the  creation. 

"The  Mosaic  record,"  says  UicliJwrn,^  ''is  impro- 
perly called  the  history  of  the  creation;  it  should  be 
called  a  picture  of  the  creation.  Every  feature  of 
it  appears  to  betray  the  pencil  of  the  painter,  not  the 
pen  of  the  historian."  And  Ammon'^  says:  "Accor- 
ding to  the  record,  the  author  himself  must  have 
been  an  eye-witness  to  the  creation." 

Both  remarks  are  (apart  from  the  consequences 
attached  to  them  by  their  authors)  apposite  enough. 
The  record  bears,  w^ith  unmistakable  clearness,  the 
impress  of  a  proper  personal  contemplation,  and  is, 
indeed,  due  to  such,  if  it  be  what  the  Jewish  and 
Christian  Church  have  ever  held  it  to  be.  If  it  be 
the  oiFspring  of  Divine  revelation,  then  albo  was  it — 
according  to  the  analogy  of  revealed  histoj-ies  of  the 
future  —  conceived  through  the  medium  of  prophetic 
contemplation,  and  its  author  (whoever  he  might- be) 
framed  in  words  ivliat  he  had  beheld  with  the  ei/e  of 
the  mind;  he  described  ivhat  he  had  seen,  and  de- 
scribed it  as  he  had  seen  it.  Hence  the  account  as- 
sumes so  panoramic,  so  plastic,  and  lifelike  a  cha- 
racter. It  consists  of  prophetico-historical  tableaux, 
■which  are  represented  before  the  eye  of  the  mind, 
scenes  from  the  creative  activity  of  God,  each  one 
of  wdiich  represents  some  grand  division  of  the  great 
drama,  some  prominent  phase  of  the  development.^ 


2  ConijDare  his  Bihl.  Theolog'ie,  I,  p.  269. 

'  This  view  has  been  received  and  approved  by  Ebrard  (.46- 
Jiandl.  uber  Bibel  unci  Naturwissenschaften,  3,  p.  167),  and   by 


HISTORY    OF    THE     CREATION.  Ill 

One  scene  unfolds  itself  after  another  before  the 
vision  of  the  'proiohet,  until  at  length,  with  the 
seventh/  the  historical  progress  of  the  creation  is 
fully  represented  to  1dm. 


J.  P.  Lange  {Posit.  Dogm.,  p.  243).  On  the  other  hand,  it  has 
been  contested  and  rejected  by  Ilofmann  [Schrlflheioeis.  I,  231) 
and  Delitzch  [Genesis,  page  42).  The  arguments  of  the  two 
latter,  so  far  as  they  touch  the  subject,  do  not  affect  the  substance 
of  my  view  ;  but  merely  some  erroneous  assertions  connected 
therewith,  in  the  second  edition  of  this  work,  which  now,  how- 
ever, are  abandoned.  Compare  below,  note  1,  p.  115. 

'  "Taken  strictly,  therefore,  the  term  Hexcemeron  is  incorrect, 
it  should  be  Heptcemeron.  The  creation  of  the  M^orld  was  com- 
pleted, according  to  the  Biblical  view,  not  in  six  but  in  seven 
days.  For  the  seventh  day  also,  the  day  of  God's  rest,  was  es- 
sentially connected  with  the  days  of  creation,  since  it  is  expressly 
said.  Gen.  2:2:  'And  on  the  secenih  day  God  ended  all  his  icork 
which  he  had  made.'  The  rest  of  the  seventh  day  was  the  key- 
stone of  the  structure,  the  seal  of  its  completion,  and  thereby  the 
completion  itself.  It  was  a  vain  and  shallow  appliance  the  Sa- 
maritans and  Syrians  had  recourse  to,  in  altering  the  text  of  the 
above  verse,  and  reading  the  sixth  instead  of  the  seventh  day.'' 

The  above,  precisely  as  it  stands,  was  contained  in  the  second 
edition  of  this  work.  With  astonishment,  therefore,  I  read  in 
J.  P.  Lange's  Posit.  Dogm.,  on  page  232:  "Kurtz  ohjects  to  the 
term  Hexcemeron.  He  ivould  speak  of  a  seven  days'  work. 
What,  therefore,  ims  the  work  of  the  seventh  day .?"  Did  not  the 
repetition  of  my  words  in  this  place  furnish  the  opportunity,  and 
call  me  to  justify  myself  against  the  insinuation  of  Lange,  I 
should  still,  as  heretofore,  have  remained  silent  about  the  matter. 
But  now  I  may  be  allowed  a  few  words  in  my  own  defence. 

Prof.  Lange  knows  just  as  well  as  I  do,  and  as  every  youth 
should  know,  that  the  term  "  Ilepfcemeron"  is  not  to  be  inter- 
preted, ''seven  days'  work,"  but  that  it  denotes  a  complex  jyeriod 
of  seven  days.  Hence  he  is  guilty  oi  falsifying  my  words  — not 
from  ignorance,  and  still  less  from  evil  intent  —  but  through 
haste  and   thoughtlessness.     But   that,  in  itself,  might   be  over- 


112         BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

§  4.  Limitation  and  Duration  of  the  Days  of  Creation. 

The  first  Chap,  of  Genesis  mentions  eiglit  acts  of 
creation,  each  one  of  which  is  introduced  with  the 
words,  "God  said:  Let  there  he  !"  and  on  the  other 
hand,  speaks  of  but  six  days  of  creation,  upon  which 
these  acts  take  place.  Each  of  these  days  of  crea- 
tion begins  Avith  a  morning  of  creation,  whicli  is 
marked  by  the  Divine,  "Let  there  be!"  The  day 
progresses,  the  wonderful  commands  of  the  Creator 
are  effectually  carried  out,  and  at  length,  after  the 
occurrence  of  evening  and  morning,  a  new  day  of 
creation  is  introduced.^ 

looked,  for:  "  Qiiandoque  bonus  dormitat  Homerus/^  But  if,  on 
the  other  hand,  VvotLange  cites  the  half-read  and  wholly  misap- 
prehended passage  in  wrong  relation,  merely  for  the  purpose  of 
bringing  in  the  taunting  question:  "What  therefore  was  the 
work  of  the  seventh  day?" — i.  e.,  to  convict  me  of  absurdity  and 
want  of  thought,  such  as  I  should  well  be  ashamed  of,  were  the 
imputation  true  —  then  he  most  unreasonably  casts  a  stain  upon 
my  literary  character,  in  the  eyes  of  all  his  readers,  who  have 
neither  time,  opportunity,  nor  disposition  to  examine  for  them- 
selves the  passage  in  my  work  so  contemptuously  treated,  and 
thus  converts  a  pardonable  haste  and  carelessness  into  the  most 
unpardonable  want  of  consideration. 

I  deeply  regret  being  called  upon  to  complain  so  severely  of 
Prof.  Lange,  to  whose  writings  I  owe  so  much  pleasure  and  ad- 
vantage. But  there  is  a  literary  honor  which  must  be  preserved 
intact,  and  which,  in  the  spirit  of  the  eighth  commandment,  cannot 
be  invaded  at  will. 

'I  cannot  see  that  the  common  understanding  of  the  words : 
"And  it  became  evening,  and  it  became  morning,"  [according  to 
Luther's  rendering  of  the  Hebrew,  in  Gen.  1:5]  as  containing 
within  their  compass  a  whole  day,  is  the  correct  one.  Such  an 
interpretation  is  ungramraatical  and  contrary  to  the  sense.     The 


LIMITATION    OF    THE     DAYS.  113 

Here  we  are  met  by  two  fresh  inquiries.  It  may 
be  asked,  first,  whether  the  number  seven  of  the 
prophetic  visions,  in  which  through  the  medium  of 
Divine  revelation,  the  history  of  the  creation  was 

"  vav  consecutivum"  in  this  section,  where  order  of  time  is  so 
strongly  marked,  and  in  the  connection  in  which  it  is  used,  must 
certainly  denote  order  of  time,  so  that  what  precedes  in  the  order 
of  the  narration,  must  be  regarded  as  also  preceding  in  order  of* 
time.  "God  said:  Let  there  be  light!  —  and  there  was  light. — 
God  divided  the  light  from  the  darkness.  And  it  became  evening, 
and  it  became  morning."  All  here  moves  forward  in  an  order 
of  time  the  most  strongly  marked.  Hence  I  cannot  but  regard 
the  remark  of  Delitzsch  {Genesis,  ■p.  GO)  as  founded  in  error,  when 
he  says:  "The  darkness  preceded  the  light,  hence  the  whole 
day  began  with  the  evening.'^  For,  on  the  one  hand,  the  dark- 
ness is  not  called  evening,  but  night,  and  on  the  other,  when  it  is 
said :  It  became  evening,"  it  must  be  meant  that  a  day  had  gone 
before,  the  place  of  which  was  now  taken  by  the  evening.  The 
day  of  creation  cannot,  therefore,  have  begun  with  the  evening ; 
it  vmst  have  begun  with  the  morning.  It  were  inconceivable  how 
Buch  a  misapprehension  should  have  been  retained  for  so  long  a 
time,  and  with  such  general  consent,  were  not  its  origin  capable 
of  explanation.  It  is  not  to  be  referred  to  the  1st  Chapter  of 
Genesis,  but  rather  to  the  notorious  fact,  that  not  only  the  Hebrews, 
but  almost  all  the  nations  of  antiquity,  began  their  ordinary  day 
with  the  evening.  It  was  hence  thought  that  Ihe  same  view  must 
underlie  the  ancient  sacred  record,  or  must  be  attached  to  it.  I 
myself  believe,  indeed,  that  this  vicAV  has  its  foundation  in  that 
record,  but  in  a  wholly  different  manner.  It  has  its  basis,  not  in 
the  days  from  the  first  to  the  sixth,  but  in  the  seventh  day.  The 
■working  day  began  with  the  morning,  in  conformity  to  its  nature  ; 
but  the  day  of  rest,  no  less  in  harmony  with  its  nature,  with  the 
evening.  As  now,  the  sabbath  was  the  rule  and  measure  of  all 
civil  and  religious  divisions  of  time,  and  was  naturally  begun  in 
the  evening,  it  was  demanded  fur  the  sake  of  regularity,  and  by 
the  tvpical  character  of  the  sabbath  itself,  that  reckonings  of  time 
10* 


114         BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

represented,  was  essential ;  or  wliether  it  was  merely 
accidental,  that  is,  whether  the  creation  might-  not 
have  been  represented  in  a  greater  number  or  fewer 
phases  of  development;  whether  this  division  is 
founded  upon  the  objective  fact  of  its  really  having 
so  occurred  as  represented,  or  merely  upon  the  sich- 
jective  vieivs  of  the  prophet  touching  the  manner  of 
its  occurrence  ?  Even  were  we  compelled  to  take 
the  latter  view,  the  record  would  no  more  forego  its 
Divine  character  and  authorit}^,  than  prophecies  con- 
cerning future  history  suffer  abatement  of  their  value 
and  significance,  from  similar  circumstances.  Were 
not  strong  grounds  against  such  an  apprehension  of 
the  account,  to  be  found  in  the  record  itself,  or  in 
subsequent  revelations,  we  must  at  once  admit  it  as 
legitimate. 

But  such  is  not  the  case.  The  record  itself  con- 
tains one  explicit  datum  wdiich  compels  us  to  regard 
the  number  seven  of  the  visions  as  essential,  as  an- 
swering closely  to  the  reality  of  the  occurrence  and 
the  division  of  the  work  of  creation.  It  is  the  foun- 
dation accorded  to  the  division  into  weeks,  and  to 
the  blessing  of  the  seventh  day,  in  Chap.  2:3,  an 
argument  wdiich  derives  much  strength  from  those 
passages  of  the  law^  (Exodus  20 :  9-11,  and  31 :  12- 
17)  wdiich  w^ere   to  enforce  the  observance  of  the 

in  general  should  be  made  according  to  this  rule.  But  the  day 
of  labor,  as  such,  naturally  began  afterwards  as  before  with  the 
morning.  We  have  in  this  view,  which  I  am  convinced  is  the 
only  correct  one,  also  a  new  proof  that  the  "myth"  of  the  creation 
is  not  derived  from  the  division  of  time  into  weeks,  but  that  the 
latter  derives  its  origin  from  the  "history"  of  the  creation. 


LIMITATION     OF    THE     DAYS.  115 

Sabbatli  upon  the  Israelites,  l^o  purely  subjective, 
unessential,  and  therefore  arbitrary  limitation  of  the 
various  phases  of  the  process  of  creation,  could  pos- 
sibly have  been  the  occasion,  the  archetype,  and  the 
pattern  of  a  Divine  law  or  provision,  particularly 
one  of  such  significance  and  importance.  The  weight 
of  this  argument  suffers  not  in  the  least  from  an 
appeal  to  the  signifi.cance  and  sacredness  of  the 
number  seven,  founded  both  in  nature  and  in  the 
laws  of  the  human  mind.^ 

'  This  is  the  only  argument  brought  forward  by  Ilofmann  and 
Delitzsch  against  the  opinions  expressed  in  the  second  edition  of 
this  work,  to  %Yhich  I  can  concede  the  force  of  demonstration. 
But  my  view  that  the  historical  contents  of  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis  were  originaUy  conceived  in  prophetic  contemplation,  still 
remains  fundamentally  and  essentially  the  same,  even  after  yield- 
ing an  erroneous  assertion  or  two  connected  therewith.  1  may 
here  be  allowed  to  notice  at  some  length  the  remarks  of  Delitzsch 
in  opposition  to  my  view,  since  his  (Genesis,  p.  40-42)  are  the 
most  extended. 

Delitzsch  says,  1st:  "Prophecy  wliicli  so  reproduces  tlie  fads  of 
the  past,  that  they  again  seem  to  occur  and  pass  before  the  eye  of  the 
mind,  is  icithoid  a  parallel  in  the  Old  Testament.  I  reply  :  With- 
out a  parallel,  true  enough  ;  since  the  history  here  to  be  gained 
stood  alone,  and  hence  there  was  no  possibility  of  an  analogous 
case.  Every  subsequent  reproduction,  under  the  influence  of  the 
Spirit,  of  ichat  had  occurred  in  past  time,  might  rest  upon  human 
recollection  and  communication.  But  as  for  the  history  of  the 
creation,  it  could  not  be  reproduced  by  the  interventicm  of  man's 
natural  faculties  merely,  since  it  lay  beyond  the  reach  of  these 
faculties — anterior  to  the  time  of  man's  creation.  2d.  ""The  Spirit 
of  God  endoived  the  prophet,  not  with  a  Icnowledge  of  what  had  come 
to  pass,  hut  with  a  spiritual  understanding  of  facts  historically 
communicated.'^  But  still  the  Jxnowledge  of  future  events  was  im- 
parted to  the  prophets  of  old  by  means  of  the  Spirit.     The  know- 


116         BIBLICAL   THEORY   OF   THE   WORLD. 

We  now  pass  to  the  second  inquiry,  how  we  are  to 
understand  the  limitation  of  time  as  represented  by 
the  prophet  in  the  several  phases  of  the  creation : 
whether  tlie  days  of  creation  there  mentioned  are  to 

ledge  of  the  events  themselves  was,  indeed,  not  the  important 
point  in  these  cases,  but  rather  a  spiritual  apprehension  of  them, 
60  that  they  might  influence  the  life  and  promote  the  welfare  of 
those  who  possessed  them.  But  a  knowledge  of  the  facts  them- 
selves was  preliminary  to  such  a  spiritual  apprehension  of  them, 
and  was  the  necessary  condition  of  it.  If  such  knowledge  was 
not  to  be  gained  by  the  natural  course  of  actual  observation  (on 
the  part  of  the  prophet  himself,  or  from  the  observations  of  others 
communicated  to  him),  then  must  it  be  imparted  to  him  by  inter- 
nal vision,  under  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  But  the  same, 
precisely,  is  the  case  in  regard  to  past  events  or  facts,  which  were 
witnessed  by  no  mortal  eye.  3d.  "  The  section  contains  no  evi- 
dence of  its  being  of  a  prophetic  character.  The  author  says  no- 
thing of  his  having  seen  lohat  he  relates,  in  prophetic  vision  ;  his 
ideas  are  not  framed  in  prophetic  language."  In  reply,  I  shall 
turn  this  argument,  in  the  first  place,  against  the  author  of  it 
himself.  Delitzsch  assumes  that  the  first  man  derived  the  matter 
of  the  record  from  God  himself,  by  an  immediate  revelation;  or, 
more  distinctly,  that  it  was  orally  communicated  to  him  by  his 
Creator.  Where  is  there  any  indication  of  this  ^  Where  does 
the  author  drop  a  word  to  indicate  that  he  was  thns  taught  of 
God?  Where  do  we  find  that  historical  structure  in  which,  ever 
since,  permanent  indications  of  such  express  oral  teachings  on 
the  part  of  God  are  retained?  But,  apart  from  such  considera- 
tions, is  it  absolutely  necessary  that  what  is  seen  in  prophetic 
vision  must  always  be  expressly  indicated  as  having  been  so  beheld, 
particularly  when  it  is  perfectly  clear  that  it  cannot  have  been 
seen  with  the  bodily  eye  ?  Could  the  application  of  such  a  canon, 
to  accounts  of  future  history  conceived  in  vision,  be  shown  as 
perfectly  legitimate?  But,  granting  even  that  all  this  be  so,  have 
we  indeed  the  account  in  the  very  same  form  in  which  it  was  de- 
livered, by  its  first  author,  to  his  descendants  ?  May  it  not  ori- 
ginally have  had  such  a  prophetic  structure,  which,  being  uncs- 


LIMITATION     OF    THE    DAYS.  117 

be  regarded  as  true,  natural,  common  days  of  twenty- 
four  hours,  so  that  precisely  six  times  twenty-four 
hours  must  have  been  spent  in  the  creation  and 
more  complete  formation  of  the  earth  and  its  whole 

sential  at  best,  could  easily  be  lost  or  removed  in  the  course  of 
twenty  centuries,  during  which  time  it  was  dependent  alone  upon 
oral  transmission  ?     Delitzsch  himself  maintains,  indeed,  that  the 
account  may,  during  this  long  time,  have  suffered  many  injuries, 
and  have  lost  essential  facts  (facts  touching  the  substance  of  the  ac- 
count).    4th.  ''The  account  belongs,  if  we  recogn  ize  two  channels  of 
historical  description  in  the  Pentateuch  [a  prophetic  and  a  priestly), 
not  to  tlie prophetic  channel,  hut  to  the  priesthj.^'     This  remark  is 
founded  upon  the   above-mentioned  hypothesis  (page  88)  of  the 
origin  of  the  Pentateuch,  the   correctness  of  which  we  have  no 
need  to  call  in  question,  so  fiir  as  it  influences  the  matter  to  which 
it  is  here  applied.     For,  even  if  the  account  not  only  was  origi- 
nally the  offspring  of  prophetic  contemplation,  but  still  had  borne 
upon  its  face  the  unmistakable  impress  of  such  an  origin,  the  as- 
sumed priestly  author  would  doubtless  have  found  in  Gen.  2  :  3, 
ground  enough  to  warrant  him  in  incorporating  it  in  his  sacred 
history,  in  preference  to  many  other  traditional  descriptions  of 
the  creation.     5th.  ''If  Gen.  \st  he  an  account  of  what  was  seen  hij 
a  prophet  of  Israel,  ichence  then  the  surprising  accordance  with  it 
to  he  found  in  the  traditions  of  the  heathen?"     This  inquiry  does 
not  affect  my  view,  for  I  have  never  maintained  that  the  author 
of  Genesis  was  the  first  recipient  of  the  facts  divinely  imparted. 
Delitzsch  agrees  with  me  in  the  fact  that  the  account  of  the 
creation,  as  recorded  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  is  to  bo  re- 
ferred to  divine  revelation.    We  merely  differ  in  opinion  as  to  the 
form  in  which  this  revealed  knowledge  was  communicated  to  man. 
Delitzsch  believes  (if  I  rightly  apprehend  him)  that  God  imparted 
it  to  man  orally;    I  believe  that  God  communicated  it  to  him 
through  the  medium  of  prophetic  vision.    I  am  compelled  to  take 
the  view  I  do  from  the  panoramic,  life-like  character  of  the  account, 
wliich  must  be  referred,  as  it  seems  to  me,  to  circumstances  of 
jjersonal  ohservation  with  which  it  arose ;  and  also  from  the  fact 
that  information  in  regard  to  historical  matters  of  the  future,  was 


118         BIBLICAL   THEORY   OF   THE   WORLD. 

organism  —  or  wlietlier  Uiis  limitation  existed  onlj^ 
in  the  mind  of  the  prophet,  having  no  foundation  in 
reality,  so  that  the  days  are  to  be  regarded  merely 
as  prophetic  days,  spaces  or  periods  of  time  of  indefi- 
nite length. 

That  such  periods  of  time  migJit  be  styled  days  in 
the  concrete  representations  of  prophecy,  no  one  will 
dispute.  But  w^e  dare  not  maintain  as  a  foregone 
conclusion,  that  since  the  record  w^as  conceived  in 
the  spirit  of  prophecy,  therefore  the  six  days  must, 
of  course,  represent  so  many  periods  of  indeterminate 
length.  As  in  the  predictions  of  the  prophet  Jere- 
miah, the  seventy  3^ears  w^ere  proper,  natural  years  ; 
so  also  the  six  days  mentioned  in  the  account  of  the 
creation,  may  very  easily  have  been  natural  days  of 
twenty-four  hours.  There  are  but  two  modes  of 
deciding  how  to  understand  the  term  day  in  this  as 
in  all  similar  cases.  Either  the  record  itself  must 
contain  other  points  which  decide  the  matter,  (as  in 
the  case,  for  example,  of  the  predictions  of  the  pro- 

never  given,  according  to  any  representations  of  the  Scriptures,  by 
oral  communication  from  God,  but  always  through  a  prophetic 
medium  under  the  influence  of  the  Spirit.  For  I  abide  by  the 
affirmation  that  the  conception  of  a  history  lying  antecedent  to  all 
human  experience  and  recollection,  is  subjected  to  precisely  the 
same  conditions  and  laws  as  that  of  a  history  yet  future.  The 
oral  teachings  of  God  to  the  first  man,  chap.  2,  and  similar  com- 
munications to  the  patriarchs  (Noah,  Abraham),  are  of  an  entirely 
different  character,  of  a  different  form,  import  and  design,  from 
the  revelations  contained  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis.  The 
latter  would  be,  apprehended  as  outward,  oral  communications 
from  God,  without  any  analogy  either  in  the  Old  or  the  New  Tes- 
tament. 


LIMITATION     OF    THE     DAYS.  119 

pliet  Jeremiah,  Chap.  29,  where  it  is  clearly  enough 
indicated  that  the  seventy  years  were  to  be  under- 
stood as  natural,  historical  years),  or  we  must  found 
our  decision  on  the  facts  of  experience  —  in  the  case 
of  predictions  concerning  the  future,  upon  the  fulfil- 
ment of  wdiat  is  foretold ;  and  in  regard  to  the  pri- 
meval history  of  the  world,  upon  the  results  of 
scientific  research. 

]^ot  unfrequently  do  w^e  hear  the  over-hasty  re- 
mark, that  the  results  of  scientific  investigation 
speak  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  view  that  the  days 
of  creation  w^ere  long  periods  of  time.  For  Astro- 
nomi/y  it  is  argued,  will  not  permit  us  to  limit  the 
time  spent  in  the  creation  of  the  heavens  above,  with 
all  their  stars,  or  even  that  spent  in  the  creation  of  our 
own  planetary  heavens,  to  twenty-four  natural  hours  : 
neither  can  we,  in  the  face  of  the  results  of  geological 
research,  believe  that  the  production  of  the  primary 
and  secondary  formations,  and  the  origin,  course  of 
life  and  death  of  the  organic  beings  they  enclose, 
took  place  in  a  single  day  of  twenty-four  hours 
length,  or  even  in  six  of  them. 

Delifzseh  afiirms  that  he  has  heard  such  positive 
assertions  as  the  following,  from  the  lips  of  distin- 
guished and  prudent  scientific  men,  and  those  who 
have  the  deepest  attachment  to  Christianity ;  that 
"millions  of  years"  (? !)  must  have  preceded  the 
present  condition  of  the  earth,  and  the  animal  and 
vegetable  kingdoms  it  contains. 

But  we  must  not  allow  our  minds  to  be  unsettled 
or  turned  from  an  impartial  examination  of  the 
record  before  us,  by  any  such  assertions.     The  first 


120         BIBLICAL   THEORY   OF   THE   WORLD. 

and  most  significant  inquiry  should  ever  be,  liow 
does  the  record  itself  regard  the  days  of  which  it 
speaks  ?  If  it  contain  reliable  data,  from  which  we 
cannot  but  infer  that  the  days  are  to  be  understood 
as  natural  days,  neither  Astronomy  nor  Geology 
lias  the  right  to  a  single  word  in  the  whole  matter. 
"We  believe  most  firmly,  that  were  this  record  ex- 
plained merely  on  its  own  merits  and  with  the  aid 
of  other  Scripture,  and  Avere  there  no  outside,  no 
foreign  influences  at  work,  the  days  could  only  be 
regarded  as  natural  days.  But  we  also  believe  that 
natural  science  can  be  harmonized  with  the  Bible, 
in  spite  of  such  an  exegetical  result ;  even  though  it 
abide  by  its  exorbitant  assertion,  that  millions  of 
years  must  have  preceded  the  present  form  of  the 
earth. 

Delitzsch,  indeed,  believes  that  the  position  can 
also  be  maintained,  "that  it  cannot  possibly  have 
been  the  intention  of  the  account  of  the  creation,  to 
crowd  the  six  days'  work,  together  with  the  Sabbath 
which  followed  it,  within  the  space  of  an  ordinary 
week.  The  days  of  creation  must  have  been  periods 
of  creation.  Probably  the  author  of  the  account 
himself  did  not  intend  to  state  their  length.  He  may 
have  meant  days  according  to  a  Divine  standard  of 
measurement."^ 

The  record  itself  shows  what  it  would  be  under- 

'  I  myself,  also,  in  the  previous  editions  of  this  work,  interpre- 
ted the  days  as  prophetic  days  of  indefinite  length  ;  but  merely 
in  this  view,  that  I  thought  there  was  nothing  in  the  record  it- 
self, rendering  necessary  a  decision  either  the  one  way  or  the 
other. 


LIMITATION    OF    THE    DAYS.  121 

stood  to  mean  by  the  term  day,  where  it  begins  to 
note  the  number  of  the  days  of  creation,  in  verse 
fifth :  God  divided  the  light  from  the  darkness,  and 
called  the  light  day,  but  the  darkness  he  called  night. 
Then  came  eveniog  and  morning.  Thus  the  first 
day  came  to  a  close,  and  the  second  was  introduced. 

The  word  "day"  is  certainly  here  used  (not  in  dif- 
ferent senses,  but  just  as  the  term  is  now  used  among 
all  nations)  with  more  or  less  limitation  of  meaning. 
It  first  designates  the  period  of  time  we  call  day 
proper,  the  time  between  the  dawn  of  morning  and 
the  darkness  of  evening;  and  then  the  whole  day, 
including  the  night  and  the  periods  of  transition  be- 
tween day  and  night.  It  is  clearly  manifest,  therefore, 
that  the  whole  day,  which  was  called  the  first  day,  thus 
included  four  divisions  of  time  (day  and  night,  eve- 
ning and  morning)  which,  within  that  period,  suc- 
ceeded each  other.  ^N'ow,  there  is  no  question  but 
that  the  division  of  time  which  is  here  called  day, 
was  conditioned  and  limited  by  the  i^resence  of  natu- 
ral light;  consequently,  the  evening  which  followed 
such  a  day,  and  the  morning  which  preceded  the 
next  day,  must  in  like  manner  be  understood  as  parts 
of  an  ordinary,  natural  .whole  day;  and  the  latter 
can  only  be  measured  according  to  the  natural,  every- 
day standard  still  in  use  —  the  occurrence  of  one 
regular,  natural  change  of  light  and  darkness  (of  day 
and  night). 

The  days  of  creation  were  thus  measured  by  the 
natural  advent  and  departure  of  the  light  of  day,  by 
the  occurrence  of  evening  and  morning.  This  stand- 
ard of  measurement  is  given  by  the  record  itself,  and 
11 


1*22         EIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

must  be  applied  alike  to  each  of  the  six  days  of  crea- 
tion. But  whether  each  of  these  days  was  a  natural 
day  of  twenty-four  hours  length,  we  cannot,  of 
course,  determine.  Most  probably  it  was,  from 
the  fourth  day  onward  ;  since  from  that  time  the  sun 
began  to  rule  the  day,  and  the  moon  the  night,  intro- 
ducing in  all  probability  the  same  order  which  abides 
undisturbed  until  the  present  hour.  But  the  length 
of  the  three  first  days,  when  the  present  order  of 
things  did  not  exist,  when  the  duration  of  the  light 
of  day  and  the  darkness  of  night  was  determined  by 
wholly  different  laws,  cannot,  so  long  as  these  laws 
are  unknown,  be  divined.  The  days  of  our  record 
were  measured  not  by  the  hours  of  the  clock,  but 
by  the  four  divisions  of  the  day. 

In  opposition  to  this,  Delitzseh  appeals  to  Gen.  2: 
2,  3.  He  says  (page  61):  "The  Divine  Sabbath  does 
not  favor,  but  bears  witness  against  the  correctness 
of  the  apprehension,  that  the  days  of  creation  were 
of  but  24  hours'  length.  For,  if  the  Divine  Sabbath 
of  rest  was  of  much  greater  length  than  a  common 
Sabbath,  and  yet  was  the  archetype  and  pattern  of 
the  latter,  so  also  may  the  six  days  upon  which  God 
wrought  in  the  work  of  creation,  have  been  vastly 
longer  than  common  secular  days,  without,  in  the 
least,  losing  their  significant  typical  character." 
Plausible  enough,  indeed,  but  still  untenable  !  Where 
are  we  told  that  the  seventh  da}',  on  wdiich  God 
rested  from  all  his  work,  was  much  longer  than  a 
common  civil  day?  AYas  it  not,  too,  called  a  dat/, 
just  as  all  those  which  preceded  it,  and  numbered  in 
a  regular  series  as  the  seventh  P  The  record  itself,  in 


LIMITATION    OF    THE    DAYS.  123 

the  description  of  the  first  clay,  points  out  unequivo- 
cally the  proper  interpretation  of  the  word  day.  It 
is  not,  indeed,  said,  as  it  is  with  respect  to  the  pre- 
ceding days,  that  an  evening  and  morning  followed 
the  seventh  day  also.  But  may  we  hence  conclude 
that  this  was  certainly  not  the  case  ?  If  so,  then  it 
was  not  a  day  like  those  which  preceded  it,  and  could 
not  properly  be  called  a  day  in  the  same  sense  and 
connection.  The  error  of  the  argument  lies  just 
here,  first,  the  seventh  day  is  arbitrarily  interpreted 
—  the  record  says  nothing  in  regard  to  its  duration 
or  its  limits  —  and  then,  on  the  basis  of  this  inter- 
pretation, is  built  a  conclusion  as  to  the  duration  of 
the  other  days,  while  the  record  itself  marks  the  du- 
ration of  the  previous  days,  but  says  nothing  at  all 
in  regard  to  that  of  the  seventh.* 

'  The  reason  that  the  closing  words:  "And  the  evening  and  the 
morning  were,  etc."  are  not  appended  to  the  description  of  the 
seventh  day,  is  simply  this,  that  no  new  day  of  creation  followed 
this  seventh  day.  Those  words  form  in  every  instance,  the  transi- 
tion, the  connecting  link  as  it  were,  between  one  creative  day  and 
that  which  followed.  Hence,  as  no  such  day  followed  the  seventh, 
those  words  applied  to  that  day  would  have  been  wholly  out  of 
place.  Delitzsch,  indeed,  explains  their  absence  in  a  wholly  dif- 
ferent way :  "The  divine  sabbath  had  no  close ;  it  extends  forward 
over  all  history,  and  is  to  absorb  it  into  itself,  and  thus,  having 
become  the  sabbath  of  God  and  of  his  creatures  at  the  same  time, 
is  to  endure  for  ever  and  ever."  A  beautiful  remark  and  true 
enough,  but  not  in  place  here.  "  The  divine  s;ibbath  had  no 
close."  But  had  not  the  seventh  day  ?  Undoubtedly  it  had,  just 
as  well  as  the  six  days,  to  which  it  belonged  as  the  seventh  of  a 
regular  scries. —  But  we  cannot,  however,  concede  that  the  divine 
rest,  in  tlic  sense  of  the  record,  never  had  a  close.  The  record  looks 
upon  the  divine  resting  as  the  consummation  of  the  creation.    For 


124         BIBLICAL   THEORY    OF   THE   WOELD. 

Delitzsch  continues:  "It  is  liiglil}'  proper  that  the 
copy  should  answer  to  the  incommensurable  great- 
ness of  the  original,  the  archetype,  only  in  a  very 
limited  degree."  Both  the  Divine  working  and 
resting  are  indeed  incommensurable,  and  signally 
so,  for  this  simple  reason,  that  they  took  place  within 
the  veri/  same  limits  of  time  which  are  accorded  to 
the  working  and  resting  of  man.  Delitzsch  again 
remarks :  "  It  is  enough  that  the  characteristic  fea- 
tures— in  this  case:  And  it  became  evening,  and  it 
became  morning  [following  the  German]  —  should 
pass  from  the  original  to  the  copy."  This  we  freely 
admit,  for  it  establishes  our  view,  and  involves  the 
opposite  one  in  a  contradiction,  since  it  virtually 
denies  the  real  objective  character  of  the  record, 
which  even  Delitzsch  would  not  under  any  circum- 
stances renounce.  For  his  arguments  ^vould  only 
gain  their  end,  by  assigning  a  different  cause  for  the 
occurrence  of  evening  and  morning  in  the  da3^s  of 
creation,  than  the  natural  change  of  terrestrial  light 

it  is  said :  "On  the  seventh  day  (not  the  sixth)  God  ended  his  work, 
and  rested  on  the  seventh  day."  So  far,  therefore,  as  God's  rest- 
ing finished  the  work  of  creation,  it  also  had  a  close  —  it  belongs 
to  the  past.  Finally,  as  to  the  mention  of  the  eternal  Sabbath, 
and  the  entrance  of  God's  creatures  into  it,  I  regard  that  as  eise- 
gesis  and  not  exegesis ;  since  the  idea,  legitimate  as  it  is  in  itself, 
belongs  entirely  to  the  New  Testament.  The  law  of  the  Sabbath, 
as  found  in  the  Old  Testament,  could  not  be  founded  upon  some- 
thing there  still  unknown.  Believers,  in  Old  Testament  times,  knew 
nothing  of  man  entering  into  the  rest  of  God,  at  least  for  many 
centuries  ;  but  only  of  his  entering  into  the  rest  of  Scheol  (Hades), 
since  they  were  yet  in  great  measure  ignorant  of  the  work  of  Him 
who  was  to  burst  the  gates  of  Hades,  in  order  to  conduct  his  ^qq- 
yiiQfrom  the  rest  of  Hades  into  the  rest  of  life  eternal. 


LIMITATION    OF    THE    DAYS.  125 

and  darkness,  (wliich  at  least  since  the  fourth  day, 
has  ever  been  brought  about  according  to  the  same 
laws  that  still  bear  sway).  But  with  this  we  should 
have  renounced  the  fundamental  belief  of  the  objec- 
tivity of  the  account. 

"Again,  let  us  remember,"  continues  our  worthy 
friend,  "that  the  six  da^^s  of  creation  are  called  imme- 
diately after  the  history  of  the  creation,  in  Chap.  2  :  4, 
one  day,  and  thus  a  constrained  literal  interpretation 
is  forbidden  by  the  Scriptures  themselves: — further, 
that  Psalm  90,  composed  by  Moses,  gives  expression 
to  the  great  truth,  that  a  thousand  years  in  God's 
sight  are  but  as  yesterday  wdien  it  is  past ;  and  lastly, 
that  as  prophecy  has  its  own  methods  of  computing 
time,  we  may  not  forbid  the  application  of  a  similar 
principle  to  cosmological  questions." 

But  surely  it  is  not  a  too  literal  intei'pretation,  to 
understand  as  proper,  natural  days,  those  that  are 
described  as  such.  We  might  w^ith  reason  make 
this  objection  to  such  an  interpretation  as  w^ould 
force  us  to  read  the  passage  involved.  Chap.  2  :  4, 
thus  :  "ik  the  day  that  the  Lord  God  made  the  earth 
and  the  heavens."^  But  what  do  we  gain  hy  this 
literal  interpretation  ?  A  wholly  irreconcilable  con- 
tradiction between  the  first  and  second  sections  of 
the  record — the  heavens  and  the  earth  being  created 
in  six  days  according  to  the  one,  and  in  a  single  day 
according  to  the  other — a  contradiction  which  can 

'  The  word  QV3  (with  the  following  infinitive)  literally  trans- 
lated, is  —  "i/i  the  day  tJiaf — but  it  has  throughout,  in  usage,  the 
force  of  a  mere  conjunction  or  adverb  —  then,  as  (at  the  time 
when). 

11^ 


126         BIBLICAL   THEORY    OF    THE   WORLD. 

never  be  solved  by  passing  from  a  close,  literal  in- 
terpretation, into  the  province  of  arbitrary  spiritnal 
interpretation,  with  the  remark,  that  the  measure- 
ments of  time  here  spoken  of  are  Divine  measm^e- 
ments,  six  of  which  may  be  equal  to  one. 

The  argument  drawn  from  the  great  and  immov- 
able truth  of  Psalm  90  :  4,  is  altogether  inapplicable 
here,  for  the  days  of  creation  here  spoken  of  are 
described  not  as  they  appear  to  the  mind  of  God,  but 
as  they  are  to  be  understood  by  man: — and  the  in- 
ference that,  since  prophecy  has  its  own  methods  of 
computing  time,  nothing  may  forbid  the  application  of 
a  similar  principle  to  cosmological  questions,  springs 
from  the  confounding  of  two  wholly  different  things. 
For  the  unusual  measurements  of  time  that  occur  in 
prophecy,  are  conditioned  by  the  subjective  posture 
of  the  prophet's  mind ;  but  measurements  of  time  as 
they  occur  in  cosmological  descriptions,  are  founded 
upon  the  objective  nature  of  the  real  occurrence. 

This  then  is  the  final  result  of  our  inquiry :  the 
days  of  creation  are,  according  to  the  record  itself,  to 
be  understood  as  spaces  of  time,  each  one  of  which 
included  a  single  change  of  light  and  darkness,  of 
terrestrial  day  and  night.  They  had  precisely  the 
same  limits  as  a  modern  natural  day.  But  whether 
the  space  of  time  included  between  these  boundaries 
was,  even  then,  of  just  twenty-four  hours  in  length, 
we  are  wholly  at  a  loss  to  determine.  We  are  not 
to  be  swerved  from  this  our  final  conclusion,  by  the 
self-confident  remark   of  Ehrard,    (p.    171),  that   it 

would  bespeak  "  LAMENTABLE   NARROWNESS    OF  MIND," 

to  understand  the  days  of  creation  as  natural,  physi- 
cal days,  instead  of  interpreting  them  symbolically. 


CREATION    OF    HEAVENS   AND    EARTH.       127 

We  have  undertaken  the  task  of  demonstratino: 
that  the  Biblical  account  of  the  creation  ma}^  he 
harmonized  with  the  results  of  Astronomy.  From 
what  we  have  already  said,  the  task  has  evidently 
increased  in  difficulty,  and  the  basis  of  our  operations 
become  narrowed.  But  it  has  also  become  evident 
that  the  harmony  we  are  endeavoring  to  establish,  is 
to  take  place,  not  on  the  basis  of  mere  fancy  or  dog- 
matic assumption,  but  on  that  of  impregnable  truth. 

§  5.   Creation  of  the  Heavens  and  the  Earth. 

The  history  of  the  creation  begins  with  these 
words :  "  In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven 
and  the  earth."  If  w^e  examine  these  words  wholly 
on  their  own  merits,  without  any  reference  to  their 
connection  with  what  follows,  we  cannot  stand  in 
doubt  for  a  single  moment  as  to  their  design  and 
import.  ISTothing  so  pervades  the  whole  body  and 
spirit  of  the  Old  Testament  as  this  great  fact,  that  the 
universe  did  not  exist  from  eternity — (either  as  crude, 
shapeless  matter,  or  as  a  concourse  of  matured  hea- 
venly bodies)  —  but  that  God,  wdio  alone  is  from 
eternity,  and  the  first  great  cause,  created  it  in  time, 
or  rather  along  with  time.  This  grand,  this  funda- 
mental principle  of  Old  Testament  knowledge  of 
God,  stands  on  the  very  threshold  of  the  Divine 
records,  on  the  very  threshold  of  that  Book  which 
was  to  furnish  the  Israelitish  people  with  their  own 
early  history,  together  with  a  sketch  of  the  wondrous 
events  which  had  preceded  it.  This  great  principle 
was  the  distinguishing  mark  of  that  chosen  people, 


128         BIBLICAL   TIIEOPvY    OF    THE   WORLD. 

the  stand-point  from  whence  tliey  viewed  the  whole 
subject  of  religion,  and  also  the  basis  and  pre- 
liminary of  their  history.  By  means  of  its  possession 
and  application,  they  were  distinguished  from  all 
other  nations  of  antiquity,  who  one  and  all  w^ere 
ensnared  in  sucli  a  worship  of  nature  as  deified  the 
world  itself,  who  believed  the  world  to  be  self-ex- 
istent and  eternal,  who  knew  not,  nor  desired  to 
know  anything  concerning  a  personal  God, distinct 
from  the  world  and  infinitely  exalted  above  it.  Against 
these  monstrous  and  destructive  errors  of  heathen- 
dom, the  first  word  of  the  sacred  records  of  Israel 
uttered  a  most  strenuous  protest. 

But  greater  difficulties  are  met  with  in  the  expla- 
nation of  these  introductory  words,  so  soon  as  we 
attempt  to  apprehend  them  in  their  connection  with 
the  description  of  the  six  days'  work  which  imme- 
diately follows. 

They  are  regarded  by  many  as  a  species  of  super- 
scription to  note  the  contents  of  the  whole  chapter, 
as  a  summary  statement  of  the  six  days'  work  de- 
scribed in  detail  by  the  remainder  of  this  cliapter. 
The  fact  that  the  creation  of  the  heavens  is  specifi- 
cally mentioned,  as  the  narration  proceeds,  in  the 
8th  verse,  and  that  of  the  earth  in  the  10th,  w^ould 
seem  to  harmonize  w^ell  with  this  assumption,  and 
even  demand  that  it  be  admitted  as  legitimate.  Yet 
still  the  passage  cannot  be  so  apprehended,  taken  in 
connection  with  what  immediately  follows.  For  the 
w^ord  '•'and,"  with  wdiich  the  following  sentence 
{'■'-and  the  earth  was  without  form,  and  void:  and  dark- 
ness ivas  upon  the  face  of  the  deep')  begins,  proves  the 


CREATION  OF  HEAVENS  AND  EARTH.   129 

2d  verse,  and  indeed  tlie  whole  chapter  which  fol- 
lows, to  be  a  continuation  of  the  account  commenced 
in  the  1st  verse,  and  places  beyond  doubt  the  fact  that 
the  creation  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  mentioned 
in  the  1st  verse,  took  place  previous  to  the  six  daj's' 
work.  If  the  1st  verse  be  indeed  a  summary  of  the 
account  of  the  whole  chapter,  then  the  narrative 
proper  commences  with  the  w^ord  "and,"  of  the  2d 
verse..  But  it  is  clear  that  the  w^ord  "and"  cannot 
introduce  a  proper  and  absolute  beginning.  And 
besides,  such  an  apprehension  of  the  passage  would 
border  closely  on  the  false  view^,  that  the  words 
"without  form  and  void,"  of  the  2d  verse,  refer  to 
an  eternal  chaos ;  so  that,  in  such  light,  our  account 
of  the  creation  can  refer  to  no  other  creative  act  than 
the  mere  transformation,  arranging,  and  quickening 
of  a  chaotic  mass  of  matter  already  in  existence.  A 
creation  out  of  nothing,  which  is  so  imperatively 
demanded  by  the  whole  spirit  and  substance  of  the 
Old  Testament,  and  assumed  by  it  as  the  best  set- 
tled of  all  facts,  would  thus  not  be  plainly  tauglit, 
but  left  in  anxious  doubt,  by  silence  in  the  very 
place  where  there  was  every  motive  and  considera- 
tion for  expressing  the  fact  in  the  most  unmistakable 
language. 

Though  on  the  one  hand  we  are  forced  by  the 
word  "and"  of  the  2d  verse,  to  regard  verse  1st  as 
truly  a  part  of  the  account  of  the  creation,  as  a  sen- 
tence of  a  connected  whole,  and  not  a  mere  heading 
to  the  chapter,  we  cannot,  on  the  other,  deny  «that 
there  exists  an  obvious  difference  in  tone,  manner, 
and   mode    of   i^epresentation,   between   its  formal 


130         EIBLICAL   THEORY   OF   THE   WORLD. 

statement  and  the  narrative  which  follows.  The 
first  verse  evidently  contains  none  of  that  life- 
like spirit  and  descriptive  character,  which  is  so 
decidedly  impressed  upon  the  whole  remainder 
of  the  narrative.  We  there  discover  none  of  that 
concrete  delineation  of  details  which  so  characterizes 
all  the  rest  of  the  chapter;  and  hence  infer  that  w^e 
are  warranted  in  not  including  the  first  verse  in  that 
history  which  was  conceived  in  prophetic  vision,  and 
which  constitutes  the  ground-work  of  the  Mosaic 
record  of  the  creation. 

E'ay  rather,  the  first  glance  of  the  prophet,  as  we 
conceive,  revealed  the  earth  to  him  as  already  in  ex- 
istence, thou2:h  in  a  w^aste  and  desolate  condition. 
But  as  the  vision  progressed,  he  beheld  how  through 
the  mighty  energy  of  the  Divine  command,  our 
present  earth,  with  all  its  fulness  of  light  and  life, 
arose  from  the  dark  and  lifeless  earth  first  disclosed 
to  his  view.  This  is  what  the  prophet  saw,  and  this 
is  what  he  has  communicated. 

But  whence  came  that  "waste  and  desolate"  earth, 
from  which  God  formed  one  so  beauteous,  and  teem- 
ing w^ith  all  manner  of  life  ?  Heathendom  of  later 
ages,  whose  original  consciousness  of  God  had  be- 
come so  obscure,  that  the  very  idea  of  a  living  and 
personal  God  had  been  wholly  lost,  regarded  it  as  a 
crude,  unwrought  chaos,  existing  from  eternity. 

In  order  to  completely  overthrow^  this  sad  and  dan- 
gerous error,  the  prophet  who  first  conceived  the  his- 
tory of  the  creation,  or  some  one  who  subsequently 
revised  the  tradition,  perhaps  the  author  of  Genesis 
himself,  prefixed  to  the  sacred  account  that  weighty 


CONDITION     OF    THE    EARTH.  131 

and  important  introductory  verse,  testifying  botli  of 
a  personal  God  and  of  a  creation  in  time. 

It  mentions  what  was  preliminary  to  the  six  days' 
w^ork,  affording  a  foundation  for  the  description  of 
wdiat  took  place  on  these  da3"s,  and  also  guards  ns 
against  a  misinterpretation  of  the  six  days'  work. 

The  lirst  verse,  therefore,  as  we  regard  it,  is  not  a 
heading  to  the  chapter,  but  an  introduction  to  the  six 
days'  work ;  not  an  account  of  something  first  com- 
ing to  pass  within  the  six  days'  work,  hut  of  a  fact 
preceding  it  both  logically  and  chronologically. 

In  thus  makino;  a  distinction  as  to  orio-in  and  char- 

CD  O 

acter,  between  the  1st  verse  and  the  narrative  which 
follows — looking  upon  the  one  as  the  offspring  of 
prophetic  vision,  and  upon  the  other  as  a  necessity 
or  result  of  reflection  on  the  part  of  spiritual  and 
religious  mind — we  are  by  no  means  to  be  under- 
stood as  making  a  distinction  between  the  two  in  re- 
gard to  their  value  in  a  religious  point  of  view,  as 
though  one  were  Divine  revelation  and  the  other 
mere  human  opinion.  IS'ay,  w^e  regard  both  alike  as 
revelations  from  God,  and  differing  only  in  the  mode 
of  their  conception  — the  former  as  the  offspring  of 
divinely  enlightened  reason,  the  latter  as  the  fruit  of 
proplietic  vision. 

§  6.  Condition  of  the  Earth  prior  to  the  Six  Days'  Work, 

There  are  two  conceivable  modes  of  explaining 
the  first  verse  in  connection  witl^the  account  of  the 
six  days'  creation  which  follows.  It  may  either  be 
regarded  as  an  account  of  the  creation  of  the  element- 
ary and  primeval  matter  of  the  universe,  from  which 


132         BIBLICAL   THEORY   OF   THE   WORLD. 

were  formed  in  six  clays  tlic  systems  of  worlds  as 
they  now  exist  in  their  matured  and  completed  forms 
— so  that  the  waste  and  desolate  condition  mentioned 
in  the  second  verse  must  be  understood  to  involve 
merely  the  absence  thus  far  of  light  and  life,  a  stage 
of  development  not  yet  advanced  to  this  high  prero- 
gative :  or  it  may  be  looked  upon  as  an  account  of 
an  original  creation  complete  in  itself,  into  which, 
through  the  medium  of  a  catastrophe  hereafter  to  be 
considered,  came  that  devastating  process  which  gave 
rise  to  the  darkness  and  the  waste  condition  men- 
tioned in  the  second  verse  —  so  that  the  six  days' 
work  can  only  involve  the  restitution  or  new-creation 
of  the  earth  which  had  been  laid  waste. 

Our  record  does  not  decide  between  these  two  modes 
of  intrepretation.  As  its  author,  acting  in  the  capa- 
city of  a  medium  of  revelation,  could  only  report 
what  he  had  seen  in  vision,  he  does  not  nor  could  he 
say,  whether  the  earth  was  created  in  this  waste  and 
desolate  condition,  nor  by  what  means,  if  its  desola- 
tion belonged  to  a  subsequent  period,  such  devasta- 
tion was  effected. 

To  the  first  mode  of  interpretation,  it  has  been  at- 
tempted to  oppose  the  expression  "heaven  and 
earth  "  in  the  first  verse ;  for  these  words,  it  is  said, 
cannot  refer  to  the  universe  in  its  elementary  condi- 
tion, because  the  heavens  and  the  earth  could  not 
exist  before  those  original  elements  had  been  sub- 
jected to  a  process  of  individualization  and  more 
perfect  arrangement.  But  this  objection  goes  but 
half  way,  and  fails  to  prove  just  what  needs  proof. 
The  expression  "the  heavens  and  the  earth"  involves 


CONDITION     OF     THE     EAIITH.  133 

tlio  fact  at  least  of  such  an  individnalization,  but 
by  no  means  the  necessary  maturation  and  comple- 
tion of  tlie  individual  worlds.  Verse  2nd  places  the 
truth  of  this  assertion,  as  far  as  the  earth  is  concerned, 
at  least,  beyond  all  doubt;  for  there  the  waste  and 
desolate  mass  of  the  earth  even,  from  which  the  pre- 
sent earth  was  to  be  formed  by  the  work  of  six  days, 
is  already  called  the  earth.  And  it  may  justly  be  so 
called,  for  it  was  individualized  even  then — it  existed 
as  a  world  by  itself  in  distinction  to  other  worlds. 
The  same  must  be  assumed  with  regard  to  the  hea- 
vens and  the  celestial  bodies  in  general — even  though 
the  account,  which  specifies  the  case  of  the  earth 
only,and  what  intimately  concerns  it,  does  not  speak 
expressly  on  this  point. 

^A  further  argument  against  the  first,  and  in  favor 
of  the  second  mode  of  interpretation,  has  been 
sought  in  the  w^ords,  "without  form  and  void," 
["waste  and  desolate"]  (toliu  vabohu),  of  verse 
second.  This  expression,  upon  which  etymology 
can  throw  no  satisfactory  light,  designates  beyond 
all  doubt,  wherever  else  it  occurs  (Is.  34  :  11 ;  Jer. 
4  :  23),  a  positive  devastation  and  desolation,  which 
has  succeeded  to  previous  life  and  fruitfulness ;  but 
never  a  mere  negative  w^aut  of  life,  a  low  stage  of 
development  which  cannot  yet  claim  the  prerogative 
of  life.  Consequently,  it  has  been  said,  the  expres- 
sion must  be  similarly  interpreted  here.  But  it  is 
clear  that  this  conclusion  is  quite  too  precipitate, 
when  we  reflect  that  the  expression,  just  like  our 
term  "waste,"  maybe  so  comprehensive  as  to  be 
applicable  alike,  both  to  a  state  of  positive  devasta- 
12 


134         BIBLICAL   THEORY    OF   THE   WORLD. 

tion,  and  a  state  of  mere  negative  want  of  life.  The 
very  fact  of  the  author's  silence  in  regard  to  the 
origin  and  nature  of  this  waste  and  desolate  condi- 
tion of  the  earth,  proves  that  he  used  the  expression 
in  this  loose,  undefined  sense. ^ 

Further,  it  has  been  said :  "  God  is  a  God  of  light 
and  of  life;  he  would  not  create  a  dark,  dismal,  and 
lifeless  chaos,  but  only  worlds  of  light,  life,  and 
order,  in  which  he  might  behold  the  refiection  of  his 
own  glory  and  blessedness.  And  that  were  we  to 
imagine  a  work  of  God  not  yet  fully  completed,  it 
could  never  be  one  in  such  a  condition  as  verse 
second  describes  the  earth  to  have  been ;  for  a  work 
or  creation  coming  from  the  Divine  hand,  though  it 
be  not  yet  perfected,  must,  according  to  the  measure 
of  its  development  and  capacity,  reflect  a  Divine 
harmony  and  order,  light  and  life." — AYe  might, 
indeed,  allow  that  the  author  used  the  expression  in 
a  loose,  comprehensive  sense,  and  still  deduce  from 
his  words  the  conclusion,  that  they  can  only  be 
jproperly  understood,  by  assuming  that  the  primeval 
earth  had  been  subjected  to  a  devastating  process, 

*  Deliizscli  (p.  55-G3)  accedes  to  my  view  in  this  connection. 
lie  says:  "The  sound  and  significance  of  these  two  words  are 
portentous."  ..."  Still  it  is  true  that  the  etymological  signi- 
ficance of  the  phrase  '  tohu  va  bohu'  is  not  satis.factoriIy  met  by 
the  purely  privative  idea  of  want  of  form  and  order."  lie  at- 
tempts to  do  justice  to  the  import  of  the  phrase  by  a  speculative 
deduction  in  which  I  cannot  acquiesce.  He  would  see  in  the 
"  tohu  va  bohu"  the  pure  original  matter  of  the  world,  which,  be- 
ing found  in  a  non-divine  state,  but  not  in  a  positively  anti-divine, 
nor  yet  in  a  merely  negative  non-divine,  but  in  a  positive  non- 
divine  state,  was  to  be  reduced  and  brought  under,  etc. 


CONDITION     OF    THE     EARTH.  135 

anterior  to  the  six  cla3's'  creation.  This  view  of  th.e 
case  still  retains  some  weight  in  the  author's  mind  ; 
bat  he  cannot  any  longer  attach  to  it  the  importance 
(as  in  the  first  edition  of  this  work)  of  a  satisfactory 
proof.  It  can  at  best  but  add  to  the  weight  of  argu- 
ments drawn  from  another  quarter.^ 

The  view  that  the  earth  was  subjected  to  a  devas- 
tating process,  between  the  time  when  the  heavens 
and  the  earth  were  originally  created,  and  the  time 
of  the  six  days'  work,  and  that  this  process  gave 
rise  to  the  necessity  of  a  restitution,  a  new-creation, 
cannot.)  therefore,  b^  established  from  this  first  verse 
of  the  Bible  —  but  neither  does  the  whole  first  chap- 

'  The  assertion  so  often  made,  that  the  second  verse  can  or 
should  be  translated  thus :  "And  the  earth  became  waste  and  de- 
solate," is  directly  in  the  face  of  the  true  grammar  of  the  clause. 
Had  such  been  the  meaning  of  the  author,  he  should  certainly 
have  said  r**IkVn  T^TW  instead  of  ^^^1  r"<N*m'  ''^nd  have 

I      V   T  T  •     :  -  T  :    IT     )       V  T    IT  : 

supplied,  to  avoid  all  am])iguity,  the  preposition  ^  with  the  verb 
n^H-  Drechsler  [Einheit  inid  Eclitheit  der  Genesis,  pp.  6G,  67) 
attempts  to  show  that  the  second  verse  cannot,  from  its  structure, 
be  intended  to  describe  the  condition  of  the  earth  as  it  came  from 
the  hands  of  its  Creator,  according  to  the  first  verse.  The  second 
verse  consists,  he  says,  of  three  clauses :  The  earth  was  without 
form  and  void,  and  darkness  upon  the  face  of  the  deep,  and  the 
Spirit  of  God  moving  upon  the  face  of  the  waters.  The  effect  of 
the  copulative  continues  from  the  first  clause  forward  to  the  others 
also,  so  that  if  we  translate:  God  created  the  earth  without  form 
and  void,  and  covered  with  darkness,  we  must  also  say  he  created 
it  with  the  Spirit  of  God  moving  upon  the  face  of  the  waters. 
But  this  argument  avails  nothing  against  the  view  it  would  com- 
bat. It  may  bo  replied,  that  the  second  verse  says  not  in  what 
condition  the  earth  was,  as  God  created  it,  but  that  it  states  the 
condition  it  was  in  when  he  had  created  it. 


136         BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

ter  contain  a  single  ivord  that  militates  against  such  a 
view.  Both  opinions  may  still,  from  this  stand-point, 
be  held  as  equally  legitimate.  But  we  must  leave 
the  matter  undetermined  for  the  present,  and  pa- 
tiently wait  to  see  whether  subsequent  revelations 
do  not  oiFer  us  something  more  tangible  and  decisive 
on  this  point  (Compare  §  25). 

§  7.    The  First,  Second,  and  Third  Days    Work. 

The  earth  tvas  without  form  and  void,  and  darkness 
was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep.  The  raging  elements 
toss  upon  each  other  in  wild  disorder :  nowdiere  does 
the  eye  of  Ihe  Prophet  behold  the  first  beginnings 
of  order  and  harmony,  of  light  and  of  life.  But  it 
is  not  ever  to  be  so.  Already  is  the  Spirit  of  God 
seen  moving  upon  the  face  of  the  wild  and  restless 
waters,  brooding  over  the  dreary  and  lifeless  waste, 
awakins:  it  to  life  and  fruitfulness.  The  barren 
w^aste  must  vanish  before  his  presence,  and  the  desola- 
tion before  the  breath  of  his  mouth.  The  fettered 
germs  of  life,  made  fruitful  by  his  breath,  await  the 
hour  of  their  freedom  and  development.  Then  is 
heard  over  the  dark  and  raging  waters,  the  potent 
command  of  the  Almighty:  ''Let  there  he  light!'' — 
"and  there  was  light."  Suddenly,  and  from  the 
midst  of  the  thickest  darkness,  light  breaks  forth  in 
unshackled  freedom,  the  first  expression  of  life,  and 
the  condition  of  all  further  developments  of  life  in 
the  yet  waste  and  barren  earthy  mass.  Light,  the 
first  created  of  God  upon  earth,  the  resplendence  of 
the  Divine  in  the  sphere  of  the  cosmical,  bears  upon 
its  front  the  seal  of  the  Divine  good-will ;  it  ever 


FIRST,    SECOND    AND     THIRD     DAYS.       loT 

greets  the  favored  beholder  as  a  messenger  of  Divine 
love  and  grace.  ^'A7id  God  saiv  the  light,  that  it  was 
good.''  Darkness  had  enshrouded  the  light  over  the 
face  of  the  waters;  hut,  ''''God  divided  the  light  from 
the  darkness.''  Thus  light  was  set  at  liberty,  and 
called  forth  to  an  independent  existence.  'No  longer 
does  it  lie  enshrouded  in  the  darkness ;  but,  sweep- 
ing over  it  and  through  it,  gives  to  it  bounds  and 
fills  it  with  life.  The  light  is  called  dag,  the  dark- 
ness night.  The  first  day's  work  is  brought  to  a 
close.  Evening  has  come,  the  morning  dawns. 
Thus  the  first  day  is  completed,  and  the  second  is 
introduced. 

A  new  day  breaks  forth.  The  laboring  earth  begins 
to  move  amid  the  heavy  waters :  a  new  command 
from  above  has  excited  her,  and  she  also  must  soon 
bring  forth  the  hidden  treasures  of  her  fruitful  womb. 
God  said :  Let  there  he  a  firr^iament  (Ausdehnung. 
Heb.  Rakiah,)  between  the  zvaters;  and  he  called  the 
firmament  Heaven.  This  was  the  ethereal  heavens, 
the  pure,  clear,  transparent  expanse  of  air  over-head; 
the  atmosphere  with  all  its  unfailing  springs  of  life 
and  bliss,  as  inexhaustible  as  they  are  indispensable 
to  all  kinds  of  animated  beings  which  were  to  appear 
"upon  the  earth.  It  rests  upon  the  waters  of  the  earth, 
and,  like  a  firm  arch,  supports  the  oceans  of  the  hea- 
vens. Thus  it  divides  the  waters  below  from  the 
waters  above ;  the  seas  from  the  clouds  which  were 
to  carry  their  waters,  laden  with  the  richest  bles- 
sings, to  the  dry  land,  so  soon  as  the  latter  had 
freed  itself  from  the  dominion  of  the  all-engulphing 
floods. 

12  * 


138         BIBLICAL   THEORY   OF   THE   WO  ELD. 

The  third  day  includes  two  acts  of  creation,  Init 
they  are  closely  connected,  both  from  inner  signifi- 
cance and  also  the  fact  of  their  having  followed  im- 
mediately one  upon  the  other :  the  separation  of  the 
seas  from  the  dry  land,  and  the  clothing  of  the  latter 
with  the  vegetable  world.  As  the  task  of  the  first 
day  was  to  liberate  the  light  from  the  bonds  of  dark- 
ness, and  that  of  the  second  to  separate  the  heavens, 
so  laden  with  blessings,  with  rains  and  fruitful  sea- 
sons, from  the  chaotic  floods  of  the  primeval  earth, 
so  also  the  creative  word  of  the  third,  freed  the  firm 
land  from  the  constraint  of  the  seas,  which  hereto- 
fore overflowed  and  engulphed  all  things.  For  as 
the  polar  opposition  and  well-established  reciprocal 
relation  between  light  and  darkness,  between  day 
and  night,  as,  also,  between  earth  and  air,  seas  and 
clouds,  lie  at  the  foundation  of  all  life  and  prosperity 
upon  our  globe;  so  also  is  a  complete  and  permanent 
division  of  land  and  water,  the  foundation  of  all  fur- 
ther developments  of  life  upon  the  earth,  and  also 
the  guaranty  of  the  prosperous  and  undisturbed  life 
of  the  inhabitants  of  both  land  and  sea.  The  land, 
indeed,  is  the  favored  abode  of  the  noblest  work  of 
God  ;  therefore  must  it  be  freed  from  the  dominion 
of  the  sea  by  the  creative  and  all-disposing  word  of 
God,  and  oppose  to  the  latter  firm,  immovable  bar- 
riers. The  tumult  caused  by  this  sudden  separation 
is  depicted  by  the  Psalmist  in  the  following  words 
(Ps.  104,  5-9) : 

"He  laid  the  foundations  of  the  earth. 
That  it  should  not  be  removed  for  ever. 


THE     FOURTH     DAY'S     WORK.  139 

Thou    covercdst  it  witli   the    deep    as  with    a 

garment : 
The  waters  stood  above  the  mountains. 
At  thy  rebuke  they  fled  ; 

At  the  voice  of  th}-  thunder  they  hasted  away. 
They  go  up  by  the  mountains; they  go  down  b}^ 

the  valleys, 
Unto  the  place  which  thou  hast  founded  for 

them. 
Thou  hast  set  a  bound  that  they  may  not  pass 

over, 
That  they  turn  not  again  to  cover  the  earth." 

As  the  waters  retire  and  the  dry  land  appears,  the 
pregnant  earth  immediately  brings  forth,  through  the 
energy  of  a  fresh  command  from  God,  the  wonders 
of  the  vegetable  w^orld,  with  all  their  beauty,  bril- 
liancy of  color,  and  abounding  fruitfnlness ;  whose 
seeds  and  germs  had  been  implanted  by  the  vivifying 
breath  of  that  mysterious  Spirit  wdiich  moved  upon 
the  face  of  the  primeval  waste  and  desolate  earth. 
The  vegetable  world  which  eagerly  clung  to  the 
parent  earth,  covering  her  nakedness  with  its  magni- 
ficent robes,  had  no  separate  life,  no  independent 
existence.  Therefore  it  originated  on  the  same  day 
which  gave  to  the  land  from  which  it  drew  its  susten- 
ance, a  separate  existence. 

§  8.    The  Fourth  Bays  Work. 

Thus,  as  w^e  have  seen,  was  the  formation  of  the 
earth  as  a  glohe^  separate  and  distinct  in  itself,  com- 
pleted.    On  this,  the  fourth  day,  its  relation  to  the 


140         BIBLICAL   THEORY    OF   THE   WORLD. 

rest  of  the  heavenly  bodies  is  to  be  determined  and 
permanently  established.^ 

In  the  "  rakiah  "  or  expanse  of  the  heavens,  which 
w^as  the  result  of  the  second  days'  work,  the  sun,  moon 
and  stars  were  placed,  by  the  word  of  the  Almighty. 
TheT/  were  to  divide  the  day  from  the  night,  and  he  for 
signs,  and  for  seasons,  for  days,  and  for  years;  and 
also,  to  be  for  lights  to  give  light  upon  the  earth.  The 
greater  light  was  to  rule  the  day,  and  the  lesser  light  to 
rule  the  night. 

The  question,  whether  we  are  to  understand  by 


1  Ilofmann  [Schrifthew.  p.  243)  and  Delitzsch  {Genesis,  p.  71) 
regard  the  remarkable  progress  in  the  work  of  creation  in  an 
entirely  different  light.     With  them  the  fourth  day  rises  in  the 
scale  of  creation,  "  in  that  the  celestial  bodies,  separated  from 
the  general  mass,  and  hasting  in  their  wide  and  unwearied  orbits 
through  the  heavens,  offer  to  our  view  a  higher  stage  of  individu- 
alization than  plants  helplessly  confined   to  the  surface  of  the 
earth:"  whilst,  again,  the  creations  of  the  fifth  and  sixth  days, 
animals  and  man,  from  their  capacity  of  voluntary  movement, 
exhibit  a  still  higher  degree  of  individualization  than  the  stars. 
I  very  much  fear  that  the  record,  in  spite  of  all  that  is  said  about 
its  objective  character,  is  thus  to  be  degraded  into  a  poor,  mise 
rable  treatise  on  science.     For,  if  the  record  is  to  be  interpreted 
as  an  account  of  objective  facts,  and  in  such  manner  that  the 
mind  of  the  author  is  ever  supposed  to  be  guided  by  the  Spirit, 
and  so  that  the  plants  being  created  before  and  man  and  the  ani- 
mals cfter  the  stars,  should  show  that,  in  the  mind  of  God,  the 
one  hold  a  position  below  and  the  other  above  the  stars  —  then  will 
natural  science,  as  I  apprehend,  be  so  fully  able  to  show  that  such 
a  scale  of  being  is  altogether  false  and  contrary  to  nature,  that  all 
attempts  to  defend  it  will  be  utterly  futile.     Such  a  view  must 
either  be  given  up,  or  we  must  at  once  concede  that  the  account 
is  not  objective  truth,  but  the  production  of  some  philosopher  or 
Other,  (and  rather  an  unskilful  one  too). 


THE    F  0  U  R  T  II     D  A  Y  '  S    WORK.  141 

tlio  expression  "stars,"  as  used  in  the  description  of 
the  fourth  day's  work,  the  whole  starry  heavens,  with 
their  countless  niiUions  of  fixed  stars,  their  milky- 
ways  and  vast  groups  of  stars,  or  merely  the  stars  of 
our  solar  system,  has  given  rise  to  no  little  contro- 
versy. In  the  first  edition  of  this  work,  the  author, 
in  accordance  with  the  opinions  of  many  predecessors, 
expressed  himself  in  favor  of  the  latter  view;  but  now 
the  most  weighty  arguments  force  him  to  regard  the 
former  as  alone  admissable. 

His  apprehension  of  the  waters  above  the  firma- 
ment, as  mentioned  in  the  second  day's  work,  in 
connection  with  another  view  since  acknowledged  to 
be  erroneous,  was  as  follows: 

"  The  massive  waters  of  the  beginning  (verse  2d) 
being  polarized  and  separated  by  the  energy  of  the 
Divine  command,  those  above  the  firmament  fur- 
nished the  substratum  for  the  formation  of  the  celes- 
tial bodies,  those  below  the  substratum  for  the 
formation  of  the  earth.  Immediately  after  the  second 
day's  w^ork,  began  the  individual  development  of 
each  sphere — that  of  the  earth  under  the  firmament, 
that  of  the  stars  above  it;  —  and  the  formation  and 
completion  of  each  progress  with  equal  pace,  as  we 
might  naturally  suppose,  and  as  the  account  itself 
intimates.  The  waters  above  the  firmament  soon 
withdrew  from  the  eyes  of  the  prophet,  his  whole 
attention  being  attracted  by  the  earth  to  which  he 
belonged^  and  in  which  he  had  such  a  special  interest; 
hence  the  prominent  place  its  formation  and  com- 
pletion held  in  his  mind.  Having  finished  the 
description  of  the  earth's  formation  in  particular,  he 


142         BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF   THE   WOULD. 

now  proceeds  in  the  next,  the  fourth  day's  work,  to 
mention  the  completion  of  the  celestial  bodies.  These 
were  already  so  far  developed  as  to  be  fitted  to 
assume  that  relation  to  the  earth  which  they  were 
destined  to  hold,  since  they  had  progressed  in  for- 
mation equally  with  the  earth.  That  we  are  war- 
ranted in  this  assertion,  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the 
earth  on  the  third  day  brought  forth  the  vegetable 
world,  whose  origin  and  subsistence  certainly  de- 
pended upon  a  real  and  settled,  though  perhaps  at 
that  time  still  feeble  influence  of  the  sun  upon  the 
earth.  But  the  prophet,  whose  mind  was  fully 
en2ra2:ed  and  filled  with  the  wonders  of  the  formation 
of  the  earth,  could  not  mark  the  simultaneous  facts 
going  on  in  the  formation  of  the  stars  —  he  could 
not  regard  the  earth  and  stars  at  the  same  time  and 
progressing  in  formation  with  ecjual  pace  —  but  one 
must  be  seen  after  the  other,  and  of  course  be  de- 
scribed in  the  same  relation.  The  finishing  of  both 
earth  and  stars  consisted  in  the  fact,  that  the  pre- 
liminary relation,  introduced  on  the  first  day,  between 
bodies  giving  and  bodies  receiving  light,  was  now 
permanently  established,  and  brought  out  in  the  con- 
trast or  opposition  of  the  solar  and  'planetary  2?rin- 
ciples.'' 

The  assumption  that  we  are  to  understand  by  the 
stars  of  the  fourth  da^^,  merely  the  planets  of  our 
solar  system,  was  attempted  to  be  justified  on  the 
following  grounds : 

"  The  whole  scope  of  the  account  of  the  creation 
is  so  evidently  confined  to  the  earth  and  what  per- 
tains to  it,  that  we  are  irresistibly  forced  to  believe 


THE    FOURTH     D  A  Y  '  S    WORK.  143 

that  the  fourth  day's  work  also,  had  reference  only 
to  such  heavenly  bodies  as  are  essentially  connected 
w^ith  the  earth;  to  such  as  stand  in  immediate  or 
close  relation  to  it,  and  form  with  it  an  articulate, 
unique  system.  Again,  the  sun  and  moon,  the  'two 
great  lights  to  give  light  upon  the  earth,'  so  mono- 
polize the  attention  of  the  prophet,  that  the  stars  in 
the  firmament  are  scarcely  even  observed.  All  he 
says  touching  the  design  and  mission  of  the  celestial 
bodies,  and  their  relation  and  position  with  regard 
to  the  earth,  refers  so  specially,  indeed  so  exclusively, 
to  the  sun  and  moon,  that  the  claims  of  the  heavenly 
bodies  in  general  to  be  'for  lights  to  the  earth,'  as 
expressed  in  verses  14, 15,  and  18,  are  completely  over- 
shadowed by  the  high  perogatives  of  the  'two  great 
lights,'  as  stated  in  the  16th  verse.  The  additional 
words,  'the  stars  also,'  at  the  close  of  the  16th  verse, 
wdiich  are  subjoined  in  a  manner  so  supplementary 
and  unimportant,  without  any  further  explanation 
of  the  design,  mission  and  position  of  these  distant 
and  unknown  bodies,  after  the  mission  of  the  sun 
and  moon  had  been  stated  with  the  utmost  distinct- 
ness, were  evidently  regarded  by  the  prophet  himself 
as  of  mere  subordinate  importance.  And  they  are 
so  little  dwelt  upon,  so  left  in  the  background  of 
the  picture,  that  their  interpretation  should  not  be 
attempted  upon  their  own  merits,  but  left  to  depend 
upon  their  connection  with  the  w^iole  account,  their 
tendency  in  general,  and  particularly  to  the  relation 
of  the  work  of  the  fourth  day  to  that  of  the  rest. 
Perhaps  we  may  thence  draw  some  conclusion  to  aid 


144  BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

lis  in  dcterininiiig  tlie  design  and  true  import  of 
words  so  vague  and  unsatisfactory  in  themselves." 

The  above  reasoning  is  liable  to  weighty  objec- 
tions ;  and,  as  we  are  now  convinced,  has  been  over- 
thrown. 

In  the  first  place,  it  places  the  whole  stand-point 
of  the  author  of  the  history  of  the  creation  in  a  false 
and  unpropitious  light,  by  attaching  to  it  a  scientific 
interest,  which  was  wholly  foreign  to  it.  The  ac- 
count of  the  creation  was  given  alone  for  religious 
purposes,  and  would  scorn  to  be  called  a  compen- 
dium of  Astronomy  or  Geology.  Its  design  is  a 
threefold  one.  It  would,  first  of  all,  show  the  rela- 
tion of  G-od  to  the  world ;  then  the  relation  of  man 
to  the  rest  of  creation,  his  high,  sovereign  position 
in  the  scale  of  being,  by  wdiich  his  mission  in  his- 
tory is  conditioned;  and  finally,  the  typical  reference 
the  work  of  creation  bears  to  the  disposition  of  his 
duties  and  labors  in  life. 

The  first  design  is  clearly  revealed  in  the  first 
verse :  In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heavens  and 
the  earth.  Each  word  of  this  weighty  verse  bears 
with  signal  force  upon  the  scales  of  religious  know- 
ledge, from  the  fundamental  truths  it  teaches^  and 
the  dauGrerous  errors  it  excludes.  The  author  of 
Genesis  mi2:ht  have  satisfied  himself  that  he  had 
gained  his  end,  by  stating  this  general  proposition, 
had  not  its  general  and  abstract  character  involved 
in  some  degree — ^particularly  in  the  case  of  the  Orien- 
tals, whose  minds  grasp  and  retain  only  the  concrete, 
the  embodied  —  the  danger  that  the  infinitely  im- 
portant truths  of  the  expression  might  be  overlooked 


THE     FOURTH     D  A  Y  '  S    WORK.  1  i5 

or  feebly  apprehended.  Hence  the  necessitj^  of  dress- 
ing them  in  concrete  forms,  of  developing  them  in 
detail,  and  attaching  to  them  the  character  of  tangi- 
ble, living  realities,  that  they  might  be  indelibly  im- 
printed upon  the  mind  of  the  reader.  But  still  more 
decisively  would  a  further  development  of  these 
truths  be  demanded  by  the  two  other  designs  of  the 
account  of  the  creation,  which  were,  to  bring  to  the 
consciousness  of  man,  in  living,  tangible  forms,  his 
relation  to  nature  and  to  his  fellow-beings. 

Such  motives  of  a  religious  nature,  and  none  other 
—  least  of  all,  motives  drawn  from  the  science  of 
Astronomy  or  Geology  —  induced  the  prophet,  or 
rather  the  Spirit,  whose  instrument  he  was,  to  give 
a  more  detailed  account  of  the  process  of  the  crea- 
tion, as  it  occurred  in  the  six  days.  We  cannot, 
from  this  point  of  view,  believe  that  he  kept  in 
mind  the  distinction  which  Astronomy  makes  be- 
tween the  heavens  of  the  planets  and  the  heavens 
of  the  fixed  stars,  since  there  is  not  a  word  hinting 
at  or  expressing  such  fact.  We  may,  indeed,  easily 
conceive  of  such  a  distinction  being  of  significance 
in  a  religious  point  of  view;  but  had  such  been  the 
case  here,  the  distinction  would  have  been  clearly 
made,  particularly  as  its  legitimacy  was  in  all  proba- 
bility matter  of  easy  discovery  and  common  belief, 
in  the  earliest  times  of  the  human  race.  But  the 
very  fact  of  its  not  being  mentioned,  indeed,  not  even 
hinted  at,  proves  clearly  that  it  was  a  matter  of  no 
significance  or  interest  to  the  prophet,  nor  promotive 
of  his  design,  as  he  viewed  the  facts  of  the  creation ; 
but  this  does  not  necessarily  disprove  the  fact,  that 
13 


146         BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF   THE    WORLD. 

it  might  be  of  importance  in  a  later  or  more  ad- 
vanced stage  of  revelation,  or  serve  other  and  more 
comprehensive  designs  of  the  latter. 

If  it  be  true  that  the  author,  in  the  16th  verse, 
speaks  of  the  stars  in  general,  without  restricting  his 
meaning  to  any  particular  kind  of  stars,  we  are  not 
allowed,  however  much  the  expression  "the  stars 
also,"  retreats  into  the  back-ground,  and  appears  of 
but  secondary  importance  —  indeed,  on  this  very 
account  the  less  —  arbitrarily  to  restrict,  limit  or 
determine  its  meaning ;  the  expression  must  retain 
the  broad  general  character  in  which  it  appears. 

Nor  is,  on  the  contrary,  the  objection  of  any  avail, 
that  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  of  the  fourth  day, 
were  placed  in  the  "rakiah"  (firmament)  made  on 
the  second  day,  which  sprang  from  the  earth ;  and 
that  therefore  they  must  be  regarded  as  belonging 
to  the  earth,  in  a  physical  point  of  view.  For  the 
"rakiah"  or  ethereal  heaven,  is  identical  with  the 
"terminus  technicus"  of  the  earth's  atmosphere, 
merely  in  a  scientific  sense,  whilst  in  common  speech 
it  comprehends,  and  ever  has  comprehended,  much 
more  than  the  latter,  so  that  it  includes  also  what  in 
modern  times  is  called  the  cosmical  ether.  So  long 
as  we  keep  distinctly  in  mind,  that  we  here  have  to 
do  with  something  wholly  difierent  from  a  text-book 
in  Astronomy  or  Physics,  we  shall  no  more  be 
stumbled  by  this  scientifically  incorrect,  indeed,  even 
positively  erroneous  manner  of  regarding  and  ex- 
pressing physical  facts,  than  we  are  by  the  common 
expressions  concerning  the  rising  and  setting  of  the 
sun,  which,  scientifically  speaking,  are  no  less  in- 


THE    FOURTH    DAY's    WORK.  117 

correct.  The  prophet  depicted  what  he  saw,  as  it 
was  seen ;  he  doubtless  saw  the  fixed  stars  in  the 
same  heavens  with  the  planets. 

Finally,  if  upon  the  incontestable  fact  that  the 
whole  scope  of  the  history  of  the  creation  is  confined 
to  the  earth  and  what  pertains  to  it ;  and  that  this 
history  gives  definite  information  only  in  regard  to 
what  has  reference  to  the  earth — if  upon  these  facts, 
the  limitation  of  the  fourth  day's  work  to  the  creation 
of  the  stars  of  our  solar  system  is  to  be  justified,  by 
our  being  forced  to  believe  that  the  16th  verse  can 
only  refer  to  such  heavenly  bodies  as  are  essentially 
connected  with  the  earth,  and  form  with  it  a  unique 
physical  system — this  reasoning  also,  is  wholly  in- 
adequate. For  there  is  not  the  least  intimation 
given,  that  the  sun  and  moon  are  here  brought 
prominently  into  view,  because  they  belong  to  our 
system  in  a  physical  and  astronomical  point  of  view. 
Were  such  the  case,  it  would  be  in  the  face  of  the 
whole  character  and  design  of  the  sacred  record.  It 
regards  the  question  of  an  existing  fhysical  connec- 
tion as  matter  of  no  importance,  and  mentions  only 
this  one  point,  that  the  sun  was  to  give  light  by  day 
and  the  moon  by  night.  But  the  same  holds  good 
with  respect  to  the  stars  also  (verse  17:  "that  they 
might  give  light  upon  the  earth.")  And  it  is  plain 
that  the  fixed  stars  serve  this  end  in  higher  measure 
even  than  the  planets. 

For  the  very  reason  that  the  description  of  the 
sun,  moon,  and  "the  stars  also,"  of  the  fourth  day, 
is  exclusively  confined  to  what  these  bodies  are  in 
their  relation  to  the   earth,  and  does  not  give  the 


148         BIBLICAL   THEORY    OF   THE   WORLD. 

least  intimation  of  what  they  are  in  themselves  —  for 
this  very  reason  must  we,  keeping  in  mind  the  whole 
tendency  of  the  record,  and  its  origin  from  the  con- 
templation of  facts  as  they  appeared  to  the  senses, 
oppose  the  unwarranted  assumption  that  the  sun, 
moon  and  starry  heavens  were  first  created  on  the 
fourth  day — then  first  called  into  being  out  of  no- 
thing, after  the  earth,  as  an  independent  globe,  was 
completely  finished.  As  the  account  says  not  a  word 
in  regard  to  what  these  heavenly  bodies  are  in  them- 
selves, so  neither  does  it  say  a  word  as  to  when  and 
how  they  were  created  to  be  what  they  are  in  them- 
selves. 

The  work  of  the  fourth  day  was  indeed  introduced, 
like  that  of  all  the  rest,  with  the  creative  "  Let  there 
he;"  but  this  command  was  directed  to  what  the 
stars  should  now  become,  and  the  end  for  which  they 
should  thus  exist — that  they  should  be  lights  to  give 
light  upon  the  earth.  If  they  had  never  yet  fulfilled 
these  conditions,  but  were  now  about,  for  the  first 
time,  so  to  do,  the  words  of  the  account  are  fully  jus- 
tified ;  for  this  relation  of  the  starry  heavens  to  the 
earth,  just  now  being  for  the  first  time  introduced, 
regulated  and  established,  was  as  much  an  act  and 
a,  result  of  creative  power  as  the  establishment  of  the 
relation  between  light  and  darkness,  or  of  that  be- 
tween land  and  sea.  Further,  it  is  said :  "  God  placed 
them  in  the  firmament  of  heaven"  —  and  naturally 
enough ;  for  as  the  firmament  meant  the  terrestrial 
heavens,  which  were  formed  on  the  second  day,  the 
stars,  supposing  they  existed  before  the  second  day, 
could  not  be  regarded  as  stationed  in  those  heavens, 


THE    FOURTH    D  A  Y '  S    WORK.  149 

but  could  assume  their  position  there,  only  at  the 
time  they  began  to  assume  a  significant  relation  to 
the  earth. 

[N'either  do  the  words  "  God  made  the  sun,  moon 
and  stars,"  of  the  16th  verse,  require  a  constrained 
or  forced  explanation ;  for  he  now  for  the  first  time 
adapted  them  to  the  earth,  and  they  now  first  began  to 
exist  in  relation  to  it.  But  this  by  no  means  destroys 
the  correctness  of  the  view  that  they  may  have  been 
created  long  before,  to  exist  in  their  own  capacities 
and  for  their  own  eiids. 

We  may  sum  up  the  results  of  our  present  in- 
quiry as  follows  :  The  fourth  day's  work  refers  to  the 
whole  starry  heavens,  including  the  fixed  stars ;  but 
we  are  not  necessarily  forced  to  assume  that  these 
were  first  created  to  exist  in  their  oivn  capacities,  after 
the  formation  of  the  earth  was  completed.  From 
this  point  of  view,  it  still  remains  undetermined 
whether  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  w^ere  first  created 
after  the  earth  was  finished ;  or  w^iether  they  already 
existed  in  a  perfect  state  before  the  creation  of  the 
earth,  but  now  for  the  first  time  assumed  their  rela- 
tions to  the  latter ;  or  finally,  whether  their  formation 
progressed  simultaneously  and  in  equal  pace  with 
that  of  the  earth,  so  that  by  tlie  fourth  day  both  they 
and  the  earth  were  so  far  perfected,  that,  from  that 
time  forth,  they  might  sustain  the  important  and 
established  relations  which  were  designed  to  exist 
between  them. 

There  now  remain  still  three  points  to  be  ex- 
plained:—  the  relation  of  the  results  we  have  ob- 
tained to  the  creation  of  the  heavens,  of  Chap.  1 : 1, — 
13* 


150         BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

to  the  creation  of  liglit,  of  the  3d  verse  —  and  to  the 
separation  of  the  waters  that  were  above  the  firma- 
ment, of  verse  7th. 

We  shall  commence  with  the  last  point.  Ebrard 
and  Delitzsch  hold  the  upper  waters  to  have  been  the 
substratum  for  the  formation  of  the  heavenly  bodies 
of  the  fourth  day,  but  with  this  difference,  that 
Ehrard  confines  the  fourth  day's  work  to  the  bodies 
composing  our  solar  system,  while  Delitzsch  includes 
also  the  creation  of  all  the  fixed  stars  and  systems  of 
milky  ways,  "We  hold  this  view  (although  ourselves 
once  attached  to  it)  to  be  erroneous.  The  account 
of  the  creation  nowhere  even  intimates  that  the 
heavenly  bodies  of  the  fourth  day  were  formed  out 
of  the  upper  waters.  This  assumption  contradicts, 
also,  subsequent  portions  of  Holy  Writ,  according  to 
which  the  upper  waters  are  still  in  existence.^ 

If  we  believe  that  the  work  of  the  fourth  day 
must  refer,  not  only  to  the  formation  of  these  hea- 
venly bodies  in  their  relation  to  the  earth,  but  also 
to  the  same  as  they  existed  in  their  own  capacities, 
and  are  in  search  of  a  substratum  for  such  formation, 
according  to  the  analogy  of  the  formation  of  the 
earth,  we  must  doubtless  look  to  the  first  verse  for 
it,  but  not  to  the  seventh.  The  collected  waters, 
which  were  subsequently  divided  into  those  above 
and  those  below  the  firmament,  are  called  in  the 
second  verse,  '''•the  earth,'"  but  not  '•'•the  earth  and  the 
heavens;''  consequently,  they  cannot  have  been  the 
substratum  for  the  formation  of  the  earth  and'  the 
heavens,  but  only  for  that  of  the  earth.     If  there  ex- 

^Ps.  148:4;  104:5;  Job  26  :  8. 


riFTH    AND     SIXTH     DAYS.  151 

istecl  a  corresponding  substratum  for  the  formation 
of  the  heavenly  bodies,  it  could  only  have  been  the 
heavens  mentioned  in  the  first  verse,  which  (since 
according  to  §  5,  the  first  verse  cannot  be  regarded 
as  a  mere  heading)  were  in  existence  before  the  six 
days'  work. 

As  to  the  relation  of  the  lights  in  the  firmament 
of  heaven — particularly  the  relation  of  the  sun — to 
light  as  created  on  the  first  day,  the  Bible  leaves  us 
in  no  doubt  as  to  its  meaning.  Light  ("or")  was 
called  into  existence  on  the  first  day,  but  not  until 
the  fourth  day  did  the  lights  or  bearers  of  light 
("maorotii")  appear.  The  power  of  giving  light 
was  not  originally  confined  to  the  sun,  but  first  be- 
came so  when  the  earth  was  so  far  advanced  toward 
its  completion,  that  the  solar  and  planetary  polarity 
might  be  established.  But  as  there  had  already  been 
changes  from  light  to  darkness,  from  day  to  night, 
tiiese  must  be  referred  to  a  telluric  action  and  reac- 
tion, which  ceased  so  soon  as  the  contrast  of  solar 
and  planetary  functions  was  established.  More  the 
sacred  record  does  not  say.  More  it  could  not  say, 
without  compromising  its  character  as  a  record  of 
Divine  revelations,  and  becoming  a  text-book  in 
physical  science. 

§  9.   The  Fifth  and  Sixth  Days'  Work. 

So  soon  as  the  cosmical  conditions  and  supports  of 
organic  life  were  provided,  so  soon  as  tlie  chaotic 
confusion  of  elements  and  agencies  was  resolved 
into  a  harmonious  and  well-established  relation  and 


152         BIBLICAL   THEORY   OF   THE   WORLD. 

pla}'  of  forces,  the  germs  of  life  began  to  be  developed 
in  the  bosom  of  the  virgin  earth,  and  she  brought 
forth,  at  the  nod  of  the  Almighty,  all  the  wondrous 
and  varied  revelations,  grades,  and  potencies  of  life, 
which  we  now  behold.  Alread}^  w^as  the  vegetable 
world  called  into  existence,  by  the  command  of  the 
third  day;  and  now  the  fifth  and  sixth  days  mount 
up  in  the  scale  of  creation,  from  the  fish  in  the  depths 
of  the  sea  to  the  eagle  of  the  air,  from  the  worm  of 
the  dust  to  man,  "who  walks  majestic,  with  coun- 
tenance erect"  —  to  man,  the  crown  and  glory  of 
this  lower  creation. 

The  account  of  the  creation  represents  man  as  the 
last  of  created  beings,  and,  since  the  series  of  the 
creations  as  they  appear,  seem  ever  to  reveal  a  higher 
and  still  his-her  s^rade  of  life  —  as  the  crown  and 
glory  of  creation.  This  progress  is  'pTiysically  repre- 
sented in  the  fact  that  each  higher  grade  of  life  in- 
cludes within  it  all  previous  and  inferior  grades, 
which  have  been  realized  and  quitted  for  a  now 
higher  one,  and  is  characterized  by  the  addition  of  a 
new  and  higher  development  of  life.  Thus,  the 
purely  cosmical  elements  and  potencies  serve  as  the 
foundation  for  specific  grades  of  life — such  as  belong 
to  the  vegetable  world.  The  animal  world  or  king- 
dom includes  both ;  for  besides  voluntary  life  and 
action,  which  are  its  characteristics,  it  includes,  also, 
an  extensive  and  closely  interwoven  sphere  of  vege- 
table life  —  all  the  innumerable  involuntary  i\xnQ\io\i^ 
of  life.  Finally,  there  is  added  in  man,  to  the  three 
inferior,  dependent  grades  of  life,  the  cosmical^  the 
vegetable,  and  the  animal,  a  fourth,  and  a  higher  — 


FIFTH    AND    SIXTH    DAYS.  153 

the  sphere   of  personality  and  moral  freedom,  the 
image  of  God  in  the  creature. 

The  Bible  represents  the  creation  of  the  universe 
in  pyramidal  form :  heaven  and  earth  constitute  the 
broad  base  of  this  pyramid ;  man  is  its  unique  top- 
stone.  He  is  the  representative  of  all  inferior  grades 
of  life,  the  unity  in  which  the  multitude  and  variety 
of  all  earthh^  creatures  converge  and  find  their  end. 
Although  it  is  not  expressly  so  said,  since  the  turn 
of  the  thought  and/orm  of  the  expression  is  foreign 
to  the  Bible,  that  man  is  the  microcosm,  the  central 
point  of  this  lower  world,  where  all  grades  of  life 
converge,^  doubtless  this  idea  underlies  its  whole 
import  and  tendency.  The  26th  verse  of  the  1st  chap, 
of  Genesis,  expressly  designates  man  as  the  king  and 
lord  of  this  lower  creation,  together  with  all  its  ma- 

'  The  remark  of  Theodoras  in  this  connection :  Theodoret, 
qnaest.  XX.  in  gen.,  is  very  appropriate:  "God  finally  created 
GwhiGy-ov  drtdj'T'coi/  thv  ai^pwrtoi' ;''  and  no  less  truthful  and  beauti- 
ful is  that  of  Aun;ustine  :  "  Nullum  est  creature  genus,  quod  non 
in  homine  posset  agnosci."  Yea,  even  that  Rabbinic  saying, 
which  appears  so  quaint  and  absurd,  "  that  Adam  was  so  larn-e 
when  he  came  from  the  hand  of  his  Creator,  as  to  reach  from  earth 
to  heaven,  and  from  one  end  of  the  world  to  the  other ;  but  that, 
when  he  sinned,  God,  by  a  touch  of  his  finger,  reduced  him  to 
his  present  insignificant  stature,'^ — is  designed  to  symbolize  and 
express  neither  more  nor  less  than  the  same  by  no  means  strange 
or  absurd  idea.  The  name  also  which  the  record  gives  to  the  first 
man,  Adam,  from  "  adamah"  —  earth,  designates  him,  if  the 
thought  be  carried  over  into  our  modes  of  expression,  as  the  mi- 
crocosm of  the  terrestrial  world.  Umhreit  strikingly  remarks  in 
this  connection  [Theologische  Studien  itnd Kri^iken,  1839,  p.  201) : 
*'  In  the  name  of  the  man  lay  the  significant  idea  that  he  was  the 
representative  of  the  whole  earth,  comprehending  it  as  its  lord 
and  ruler,  in  his  own  form.^' 


15-1         BIBLICAL   THEORY   OF   THE    WORLD. 

terial  forces  and  all  its  creatures.  His  calling  to  and 
fitness  for  this  princely  dominion  is  no  less  unequivo- 
cally evinced.  He  is  the  last  and  most  complete 
creation  sprung  from  the  bosom  of  the  earth.  He 
belongs  to  the  earth;  all  grades  of  life  are  repeated 
in  him — "nil  terrestre  a  me  alienum  puto,"  it  be- 
comes him  to  say,  since  earth  with  all  its  creatures  is 
closely  related  to  him — therefore  does  he  become 
their  fit  representative,  and  the  mediator  between 
them  and  all  that  is  above  or  beyond  the  earth.  But 
he  is  also  the  offspring  of  God,  created  in  the  image 
of  God,  and  thus  far  exalted  above  earthly  nature, 
and  thus,  also,  becomes  a  representative  of  God  to- 
w^ards  them.,  lord  and  king,  priest  and  mediator. 

When  creative  power  had  thus  attained  its  culmi- 
nating point  in  the  creation  of  man,  then  did  God 
"  look  upon  everything  that  he  had  made,  and  behold,  it 
was  very  good.'' 

§  10.   The  Primeval  History  of  3Ian, 

The  drama  of  the  six  days'  creation  has  attained 
its  last  and  grandest  scene  in  the  resting  of  God  on 
the  seventh  day,  and  his  hallowing  of  the  same  as  a 
day  of  rest  for  man.  It  has  thus  become  a  complete, 
symmetrical,  well-rounded  whole.  Passing  on,  we 
meet  with  a  new  portion  of  Divine  revelation,  whose 
tendency  is  wholly  different  from  that  of  the  section 
we  have  just  been  considering,  but  which  is  no  less 
w^eighty  and  full  of  meaning ;  in  many  respects,  in- 
deed, vastly  more  significant  and  important.  It  is  a 
record  whicli  has  employed  the  most  profound  and 
sagacious  powers   of  interpretation   for   ages,  over 


PRIMEVAL    HISTORY    OF     MAN.  155 

which  superficial  knowledge  and  skeptical  indifier- 
ence  have  fluttered  and  trifled  for  thousands  of  years ; 
a  history  from  which  faith  has  drawn  its  strength, 
and  the  wisdom  that  is  from  above,  ever-increasing 
light ;  over  which  infidelity  has  vexed  and,  chafed  it- 
self in  the  most  bitter  and  contemptuous  spirit.  It 
is  the  foundation  upon  which  the  whole  structure  of 
Divine  revelation,  closely  bound  together,  has  grown 
to  a  hallowed  temple  of  the  Spirit ;  it  shows  us  the 
root  whence  sprang  the  salvation  of  God  in  Christ, 
with  its  buds  of  promise  under  the  Old  Covenant,  and 
its  mature  fruits  under  the  'New. 

The  first  section  serves  as  a  foundation  for  the  his- 
tory of  the  w^orld  in  general ;  the  second  (Chapters 
2  and  3,)  as  the  foundation  of  the  history  of  redemp- 
tion in  particular.  The  former  shows  us  the  sove- 
reignty of  God  OVER  the  world,  as  the  Creator  of  the 
heavens  and  the  earth ;  it  assigns  to  every  creature, 
and  particularly  to  man,  his  position,  mission,  and 
destiny,  in  the  wide  and  general  plan  of  the  world ; 
it  points  out  to  him  his  normal  path  of  development 
even  to  its  ultimate  goal.  But  it  designedly  and  ac- 
cording to  its  plan,  says  nothing  of  Avhat  shall  be  the 
development  realized;  for  this  would  be  adding  w^hat 
was  foreign  to  the  present  object,  and  destruction  to 
the  unity  and  harmonious  realization  of  the  whole 
design.  Of  proper  scientific  teachings  it  contains 
nothing  at  all. 

The  aim  and  tendency  of  the  second  section  is 
wholly  difierent.  It  rests  upon  the  first  section,  and 
presupposes  it.  It  represents  God  as  dwelling  in  his 
own  world,  as  a  Father  and  Instructor,  and  from  con- 


156  BTBLTCAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

clesceiisioii  and  love,  adapting  himself  to  the  state  of 
his  pupil,  and  advancing  with  him  as  the  originator 
and  the  announcer  of  salvation.^  The  first  section 
represents  the  work  and  idea  of  God  in  the  creation, 
as  also  the  Divine  mission  and  destiny  of  man 
founded  tliereon ;  the  second,  on  the  contrary,  de- 
scribes the  free,  self-chosen  development  and  destiny 
of  man,  and  the  Divine  fostering  care,  superintend- 
ence and  guidance  previous  to  it,  with  respect  to  it, 
w^ith  it,  and  subsequent  to  it.^ 

The  history  of  the  fall,  in  Chapter  3d,  is  the 
cardinal  point  of  the  second  section — the  fall  as  the 
root  of  all  woe,  the  occasion  of  redemption,  and  the 
beginning  of  the  history  of  humanity.  It  depicts 
the  trial  of  man's  steadfastness,  or  self-determination, 
which  resulted  so  disastrously  in  his  commission  of 
sin,  arrested  his  original  destiny,  and,  with  the  con- 
currence of  Divine  grace,  conditioned  a  new  develop- 
ment, supported  by  new  means  and  higher  energies. 
The  history  of  the  six-days'  creation,  however  com- 
plete, full  and  well-rounded  it  may  be,  in  itself,  with 
respect  to  its  otvn  objects,  does  not  suffice  that  we 
may  fully  understand  the  tall  of  man,  and  the  dis- 
plays of  human  guilt  or  Divine  grace,  to  which  the 
fall  gave  rise.  The  history  of  this  momentous  oc- 
currence,  demanded  a  special,   a  new  foundation, 

*  Hence  also  God  is  called  Elohim  in  the  first  section  —  in  the 
second,  Jehovah, 

2  For  further  particulars  touching  the  relation  of  the  two  sec- 
tions to  each  other,  compare  mj  V!OYk,Bertrdge  ziir  Veriheidigung 
und  Begrundung  der  Einheit  des  Peutat.  Konigsb.,  1844,  p.  45, 
BCqq. 


PRIMEVAL     HISTORY    OF    MAN.  157 

such  as  Chapter  2d  supplies.  We  there  learn  that 
man  was  formed  out  of  the  dust  of  the  earth ;  a 
circumstance  which  vastly  increases  the  guilt  and 
folly  of  his  self-exaltation,  by  which  he  would  fain 
be  as  God,  without  God :  and  also  explains  how  he  w^as, 
in  consequence  of  the  curse  pronounced  upon  sin,  to 
return  to  the  earth  again  from  wdience  he  was  taken. 
The  breath  of  life  God  breathed  into  him,  consti- 
tuted him  a  personal,  conscious,  and  free  being,  who, 
needing  development  and  capable  of  development, 
must  and  could  choose  for  himself,  and  decide  be- 
tween good  and  evil,  and  be  responsible  for  his 
choice.  The  garden  in  Eden,  so  full  of  peace  and 
joy,  was  the  place  where  his  trial  and  fall  were  to 
come  to  pass ;  the  place  of  happiness  from  whence 
he  was  to  be  driven  after  the  fall,  to  eat  his  bread  in 
the  sweat  of  his  face.  The  command  to  keep  the 
garden,  indicated  the  existence  of  a  hostile,  destruc- 
tive principle,  against  the  power  of  which  man  was 
thus  warned.  The  tree  of  life,  whose  fruit  was  not 
forbidden  to  man  in  his  state  of  innocence,  was, 
after  the  fall,  guarded  by  the  sword  of  the  cheru- 
bim. The  tree  of  knowledge  was  the  chief  and 
most  direct  medium  of  his  development.  The  other 
trees,  with  their  fair  and  precious  fruits,  but  aggra- 
vated the  guilt  of  man  in  eating  of  the  ouIt/  tree  that 
was  forbidden  him ;  for  they  all  offered  him  their 
bounties,  if  he  would  but  keep  from  that  mysterious, 
that  fatal  tree.  The  review  and  naming  of  the 
animals  introduced  the  creation  of  woman,  and  the 
latter  was  the  condition  of  the  first  and  every  subse- 
quent development,  etc. 
14 


158  BIBLICAL    TIIEOBY    OF    THE    WOULD. 

§  11.    The  Position  and  Mission  of  the  first  3Ian. 

We  shall  now  proceed  to  a  more  detailed  exami- 
nation of  this  second  and  very  significant  section  of 
the  sacred  record,  so  far  as  it  bears  upon  the  end  we 
have  in  view. 

This  part  of  the  record  dwells  with  great  clearness 
and  at  special  length  on  the  creation  of  man,  con- 
cerning which  the  first  section  gives  only  the  most 
general  facts.  The  chief  point  here  brought  into 
view,  is  the  dualism  of  man,  by  virtue  of  which  he 
may  be  said  to  have  both  a  Divine  and  an  earthly 
nature. 

The  germs  of  the  varied  forms  of  life,  were  im- 
planted in  the  bosom  of  the  earth,  by  that  Spirit 
which  in  the  beginning  swept  over  the  "tohuva- 
bohu"  of  the  primeval  earth.  Consequently,  the 
special  production  of  the  vegetable  and  animal  king- 
doms, did  not  appear  as  the  oftspring  of  pure,  direct 
creative  acts ;  but  merely  as  the  result  of  furtlier 
formative  agencies  and  potencies,  brought  to  bear 
upon  the  original  germs  of  life.  "Let  the  earth 
bring  forth  !"  it  was  said.  And  as  the  lives  of  plants 
and  animals,  from  this  point  of  view,  appear  as  the 
individualized  products  of  the  life  of  the  earth,  so 
also  does  the  life  of  man.  But  man  is  the  highest, 
and  therefore,  also,  the  unique,  the  representative 
(einheitliche)  product  of  the  earth.  Creative  energy, 
which  thus  far  had  been  employed  in  difierent  parts 
of  the  earth  at  the  same  time,  producing  its  count- 
less individual  manifestations  of  life,  now  concen- 
trated itself  in  one  point,  to  produce  the  highest  form 


POSITION     OF    THE     FIRST    MAN.  159 

of  life,  the  sublimation  of  the  earth's  most  noble 
potencies ;  and  the  account  could  no  better  and 
more  vividly  express  this  fact,  in  its  concrete,  pro- 
phetic manner  of  representation,  than  by  saying, 
that  God  "  formed  man  out  of  the  dust  of  the  earth." 
But  man  was  something  vastly  more  than  the  high- 
est and  most  noble  manifestation  of  animal  life. 
The  princety  form  made  out  of  the  most  refined 
elements  and  the  most  noble  potencies  of  the  earth, 
M'as,  in  addition,  imbued  and  filled  with  a  Divine 
breath  of  life,  whereby  man,  who  on  the  one  hand 
is  of  the  earth  earthy,  is  on  the  other  the  ofi:spring 
of  God,^  (Acts  17  :  28,  29)  and  the  image  of  God.^ 

Man  was  now  placed  in  the  garden  which  God 
himself  had  planted  in  Eden,  as  his  place  of  abode 
and  employment.  lie  was  commissioned  to  dretss 
and  keep  it. 

Althousch  we  are  told  that  all  the  creatures  which 
proceeded  from  the  hand  of  the  Creator  were  good, 
very  good,  it  is  clear  that  this  perfection  could  not 
have  been  absolute,  but  merely  relative:  so  that  the 
words  are  not  to  be  understood  as  importing  that 

'  The  formation  of  man  out  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,  and  from 
the  divine  breath  of  life,  did  not  comprehend  two  processes  dif- 
fering in  point  of  time,  so  that  man  was  at  any  time  (and  were  it 
but  for  a  moment)  merely  an  animate  earthly  form,  likfe  the  rest 
of  the  animals,  differing  from  them  only  in  grade,  but  not  in  na- 
ture. But  there  was,  indeed,  a  distinction  in  regard  to  the  origin 
of  the  elements  of  Avhich  he  was  formed.  Two  elements  differing 
•'  toto  ccelo" — the  form  from  the  dust  of  the  ground  and  the  di- 
vine breath  of  life  from  above  —  met  together  in  the  moment  of 
his  creation,  and  the  product  of  the  two  was  Man. 

2  Gen.  1  :  27. 


160         BIBLICAL    THEOKY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

Pxian,  and  nature,  assigned  to  him  as  an  abode,  were 
immediately  advanced,  by  the  creation  itself,  to  the 
highest  stage  of  perfection  of  which  they  were  capable, 
and  for  which  they  were  destined  by  the  Creator. 
ISTay,  rather,  man  was  created  Avith  that  degree  of 
perfection  which  harmonized  with  the  position  he  at 
lirst  held,  and  the  mission  which  w^as  assigned  to 
him.  As  man  w^as  raised,  by  the  Divine  breath  of 
life  which  dwelt  within  him,  from  the  sphere  of  mere 
passive  nature,  into  the  sphere  of  free,  personal  life, 
of  moral  and  religious  freedom,  it  is  clear  that  his 
highest  stage  of  development,  at  least,  could  not 
arbitrarily  and  at  once  be  attached  to  him,  as  in  the 
case  of  a  plant.  Xay,  he  must  rather,  through  his 
own  free  choice  and  action,  determine  himself  and 
develop  himself  to  those  high  ends  for  which  he  was 
destined  and  made  capable  by  his  Creator.  In  accord- 
ance, therefore,  with  this  moral  necessity,  man  was 
immediately  placed  under  such  circumstances  as 
would  leave  him  free  to  decide  for  himself,  either /or 
or  against  the  will  of  God  and  the  destiny  originally 
set  before  him,  so  that  he  might  freely  enter  upon 
any  course  of  development  which  he  himself  should 
see  fit  to  choose. 

But  man  was  not  only  to  find  an  ahode  in  the 
midst  of  nature  around  him,  but  also  a  place  of 
employment  and  activity.  He  was  to  be  intimately 
connected  with  it,  and  develop  himself  in  the  midst 
of  it  and  along  with  it.  Consequently,  nature  itself 
could  not  be  created  in  any  but  a  stage  of  relative 
perfection  ;  it  vras  requisite  that  it  also  should  stand 
in  need  of  development  and  be  capable  of  it;  though 


POSITION    OF    THE    FIEST    MAN.  161 

not  on  its  own  account,  but  on  account  of  man,  who, 
as  its  priest  and  mediator,  its  lord  and  master,  was 
to  conduct  it  to  its  ultimate  stage  of  perfection,  or  to 
its  consummation. 

The  mission  and  end  of  man's  activities  were  to  be 
realized  by  his  having  dominion  over  the  whole 
earth. ^  But  it  was  necessary  that  he  should  begin  to 
assume  this  dominion,  in  the  place  first  assigned  to  him 
by  his  Creator.  Therefore,  the  first  and  temporary 
task  to  employ  his  powers,  was  the  keeping  and  dress- 
ing of  the  garden  in  Eden.^  This  is  no  new^  no 
strange  task.  The  idea  of  having  dominion,  as  we 
gather  it  from  Chap.  1  :  26,  is  here  merely  further 
represented,  in  both  its  positive  and  negative  phases. 
The  object  is  still  the  same  as  before,  though  limited 
by  present  circumstances.  God  himself  had  planted 
the  garden  in  Eden  ;  it  now  becomes  the  duty  oi  man 
to  take  up  the  work  which  God  had  begun,  and 
advance  it  to  completion.  But,  doubtless,  the  do- 
minion of  man  was  not  ever  to  be  confined  to  para- 
dise, ^ay,  much  rather  was  it  to  be  extended  in 
ever-widening  circles,  until  it  compassed  the  whole 
earth  —  appropriating  it,  and  moulding  it  also  into  a 
paradise.  Thus  was  the  beginning  (the  dressing  and 
keeping  of  the  garden)  to  lead  to  the  e7id  (man's  do- 
minion over  the  whole  earth). 

Man  was  to  "  dress  and  keep,''  or  guard,  the  garden 
in  Eden.  G-uard  it?  against  whom?  Was  there, 
indeed,  an  enemy  already  present,  meditating  the 
destruction  of  the  Divine  work?  The  command  to 
keep  tlie  garden  doubtless   intimates   the  negative 

~  ^'  Gen.  1  :  2G.  Gen.  2  :  15. 

14* 


162         BIBLICAL   THEORY    OF   THE   WORLD. 

phase  of  man's  dominion,  just  as  the  command  to 
dress  it  reveals  the  positive.  But  thus  far  our  atten- 
tion has  been  absorbed  by  Divine,  creative,  good 
agencies.  But  were  there  indeed,  besides,  neutral- 
izinsr,  bad  asrencies  in  existence,  which  man  was  to 
ward  olf  ? 

§.  12.    The  Tree  of  the  Knoivlcdge  of  Good  and  Evil. 

There  stand  out  prominently  from  amidst  the 
innumerable  trees  which  grew  in  the  garden  for  the 
pleasure  and  good  of  man,  two  of  special  note,  pecu- 
liar both  in  their  kind  and  also  in  their  design. 
They  are  the  tree  of  life,  in  the  midst  of  the  garden, 
and  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  arid  evil 

Mysterious  and  inexplicable  objects!  Where  shall 
the  key  be  found  to  the  secret  mysteries  which  lie 
concealed  under  these  names  ? 

Thus  much  we  know,  however;  the  two  trees 
formed  a  complete  contrast  with  each  other.  One 
tree  was  called — and  therefore  was  —  a  tree  of  life. 
But  the  other  trees  also  were  trees  of  life,  in  a  certain 
sense.  Their  fruits,  "  pleasant  to  the  eyes  and  good 
for  food,"  were  given  to  man  as  his  sustenance ;  and 
ever  as  he  partook,  his  ph}- sical  system  was  refreshed, 
repaired,  invigorated,  strengthened.  But  that  myste- 
rious tree  was  alone,  and  in  preference  to  all  the  rest, 
called  a  tree  of  life.  The  reception  of  its  fruits  ren- 
dered the  continued  and  undisturbed  life  of  the  body 
absolutely  certain.  The  fruits  of  the  other  trees, 
indeed,  restored  the  worn  and  wasted  powers  of  life 
— worn  and  wasted  through  the  functions  and  pro- 
cesses of  life  themselves — but  in  so  feeble  and  limited 


THE    TREE     OF    KNOWLEDGE.  163 

a  degree  as  to  fall  short  of  preserving  for  ever  the 
wholesome  balance  between  waste  and  supply.  That 
our  apprehension  of  the  tree  of  life  is  not  an  erro- 
neous one,  is  proven  by  Gen.  3  :  22,  where,  after  a 
judicial  sentence  appointing  death  as  the  unhappy 
lot  of  man,  all  approach  to  the  tree  of  life  is  pro- 
hibited, ''lest  he  put  forth  his  hand,  and  take  also 
of  the  tree  of  life,  and  eat,  and  live  forever.'' 

The  tree  of  the  knoivledge  of  good  and  evil  was  wholly 
different  in  kind,  nature,  and  design  ;  in  all  these 
features,  the  direct  opposite  of  the  tree  of  life.  It 
was  not,  indeed,  expressly  caUed  a  tree  of  death,  but 
none  the  less  on  this  account  was  it  such,  or  at  least, 
capable  of  becoming  such.  For  thus  runs  the  com- 
mand of  God :  "  Thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it ;  for  in  the 
da}^  that  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die.'' 
Still,  however,  God  had  planted  it  in  the  garden,  just 
as  the  other  trees. 

But  it  was  called  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good 
and  evil.  Thus  was  the  tree  characterized  as  one  by 
means  of  which  man  should  attain  to  the  knowledge 
of  good  and  evil — but  also  as  a  tree  by  means  of 
which  it  was  to  he  /cwoz^??i,whether  man  would  choose 
the  good — to  serve  God  ;  or  determine  himself  to  and 
prefer  evil — opposition  to  God.  The  inability  to 
understand  good  and  evil,  and  make  a  distinction 
between  them,  is,  according  to  Scripture^  and  experi- 
ence, a  predicate  and  characteristic  of  unsuspecting 
childhood  and  innocence — but  of  these  in  their  early, 
undeveloped  stages  —  which,  indeed,  favorably  con- 
trasts^ with  the  consciousness  of  sin  and  guilt  be- 

» Deut.  1 :  39  ;  Jonas  4:  11;  Is.  7:  15,  16.  ^^latt.  19 :  14." 


164         BIBLICAL   THEORY    OF   THE    WORLD. 

longing  to  mature  and  developed  stages  of  life,  in  tlie 
present  state  of  the  Avorld. 

But  in  view  of  the  original  destiny  of  man,  the 
perpetuation  in  Adam,  or  ihe  race,  of  such  a  child- 
like ignorance  and  characterless  innocence,  would 
have  been  an  incompleteness,  desirable  or  allowable 
under  no  circumstances.  Therefore,  according  to 
this  view,  the  tree  of  knowledge  was  also  a  tree  of 
blessings,  as  well  as  the  tree  of  life.  It  was,  also, 
just  as  the  latter,  a  tree  of  life,  of  spiritual  life.  It 
was  a  tree  of  knowledge,  by  being  the  occasion  of 
mental  and  spiritual  activity  in  the  soul  of  man.  But 
the  other  manifested  its  true  powers  as  a  tree  of  bless- 
ings and  of  life,  when  its  fruits  were  eaten  and  as- 
similated through  the  powers  of  organic  life.  It  was 
a  tree  of  life  not  only  hi/  design,  but  also  in  its  own 
capacity,  b^/  nature.  But  the  tree  of  knowledge,  on 
the  other  hand,  was  a  tree  of  life  and  blessings,  only 
so  long  as  man  refrained  from  eating  of  its  fruits. 
The  moment  he  piartook  of  this  tree,  it  revealed  its 
powers  as  a  tree  of  death.  So  we  see  that  it  was  by 
design  o\\\y,  a  tree  of  life  and  blessings ;  but  was 
in  its  own  proper  nature  a  tree  of  death  and  woe.  It 
was  a  source  of  knowledge,  so  long  as  its  fruits  re- 
mained nntasted;  and  this  knowledge  was  life.  It 
was  also  a  source  of  knowledge  after  its  fruit  had 
been  eaten;  but  this  knowledge  was  death. 

Man,  in  the  capacity  of  a  creature,  could  only  at- 
tain to  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  through  the 
fact  and  subsequent  to  the  fact  of  its  being  discovered 
whether  he  himself  should  be  holy  or  sinful,  by  Him 
who   implanted  those  qualities  in  his  nature  and 


THE    TREE    OP    KNOWLEDGE.  165 

moral  constitution,  which  made  his  continuance  in 
holiness  (for  which  he  was  destined  and  made  capable,) 
or  his  revolt  into  sin,  (which  was  rendered  possible 
by  his  moral  freedom),  a  matter  of  his  proper  choice 
and  determination.^  Consequently,  we  must  also 
retain  the  second  sense  of  the  w^ords  which  desis^nate 
this  tree  ;  the  tree  of  knowledge  was  also  a  test  by 
which  it  was  to  he  known  whether  man  would  choose 
good  or  evil.^ 

But  does  our  understanding  of  the  whole  matter, 
as  we  have  gathered  it  from  the  preceding,  solve  all 
questions,  remove  all  difficulties,  and  fathom  all 
mysteries  relating  to  these  significant  trees  ?  Far 
from  it !  JSlany,  very  many  which  crowd  upon  the 
thoughtful  and  inquiring  mind,  and  such,  too,  as  are 
of  no  slight  import,  still  remain  unfathomed,  un- 
solved. Question  on  question  might  here  arise,  until 
language  itself  should  fail  of  terms  in  which  to  frame 
our  inquiries.  But  the  sacred  account  passes  by,  in 
all  sublime,  holy,  and  child-like  simplicity, and  un- 
biassed freedom,  the  host  of  questions  to  which  the 
reflecting  and  over-curious  mind  gives  rise,  just  as  a 
child,  undisturbed  and  uninfluenced  by  the  problems 
of  the  world  and  of  life  which  surround  it,  passes  on 
in  its  innocent  course,  as  though  they  were  not  any- 
where to  be  found,  or  ever  to  be  grappled  with. 

•  1  Cor.  13  :  12. 

2  It  was  part  of  the  insidious  wiles  of  the  tempter  that  he  wholly 
ignored  and  obliterated  this  important  and  chief  sense  of  the  words 
designating  this  tree;  and,  on  the  contrary,  brought  forward  the 
other  as  the  only  one  (Gen.  3  :  5)— for  thus  only  Avas  it  possible 
for  him  so  to  magnify  the  truth  of  the  sense  he  alone  presented,  and 
distort  the  full  sense,  from  exhibiting  it  in  its  one-sided  aspect,  as 
to  involve  a  satanic  lie. 


IGG         BIBLICAL   THEORY   OF   THE   WORLD. 

It  here  becomes  us  to  lay  our  hands  upon  our 
mouths,  and  console  ourselves  with  the  old  proverb : 

"  Nescire  velle,  quae  magister  maximus 
Docere  non  vult,  erudita  inscitia  est." 

But,  nevertheless,  we  may  still  hope  that  later 
stages  of  revelation  will  lift  the  impenetrable  veil 
wdiicli  conceals  these  mysterious  secrets,  which  en- 
shroud the  cradle  of  the  human  race  —  at  least  vre 
may  be  confident  in  the  assurance  that  hereafter, 
when  faith  is  merged  into  sight  and  fragmentary^ 
knowledge  for  ever  done  away  wuth,  along  with  all 
the  depths  of  Divine  wisdom  and  grace,  these  mys- 
teries also  shall  be  fully  disclosed  to  our  minds. 

What  we  can  satisfactorily  gather  from  the  sacred 
record,  is  substantially  as  follows :  the  tree  of  know- 
ledge was  designed  to  furnish  the  occasion  and  op- 
portunity for  the  self-determination  and  decision  of 
man,  either  for  or  against  the  will  of  God,  and  which 
pertained  to  him  and  was  absolutely  indispensable  to 
him  as  a  free,  personal  being.  The  tree  of  life  would, 
in  all  probability,  have  completely  realized  its  des- 
tiny-, only  when  man  had  chosen  for  himself  that 
destiny  which  God  originally  appointed  for  him. 

§  13.   The  Formation  of  Woman. 

Thus  was  man,  at  least  objectively,  prepared  to 
take  the  decisive  step  by  which  he  was  to  pass  from 
a  state  of  child-like,  immediate,  dependent  life,  to  a 
knowledge  of  himself,  of  the  world,  and  of  God : 
from  ignorance  of,  to  the  knowledge  of  good  and 
evil ;  from  a  state  wherein  it  was  possible  to  decide 
either  in  favor  of  sin  or  holiness,  to  the  realization 


FORMATION    OF    ^y  0  M  A  N .  167 

of  one  or  other  of  these  conditions.  This  was  to  be 
the  first  step  in  that  history  which  he  Idmself,  in  the 
capacity  of  a  free  person,  Avas  to  bring  abont. 

But  there  was  still  one  development  wantino-, 
which  man  was  now  to  experience.  This,  as  he  was 
a  free  being,  indeed  lay  within  the  compass  of  his 
desires  and  wishes,  but  not  within  his  power  to 
effect,  since  he  was  a  mere  creature  himself — it  lay 
within  creative  power  alone.  It  was  the  creation  of 
w^oman  out  of  the  substance  of  the  first  man.  This 
act  first  introduced  the  characteristic  of  sex  into 
human  nature.  The  human  being  first  created  was 
neither  man  nor  woman,  still  less  a  compound  of  the 
two.  That  being  was  just  what  the  person  of  the 
resurrection  shall  be  ^  —  without  sex.  But,  after  the 
creation  of  woman,  that  first  human  being  was 
thenceforth  man — tlie  woman  was  taken  from  the 
man,  not  the  man  from  the  woman. 

The  cardinal  point  in  the  Divine  plan  with  regard 
to  man,  was  clearly  this,  that  the  whole  human  race, 
in  sorrow  and  in  joy,  amidst  cursings  and  bless- 
ings, in  its  undeveloped,  as  well  as  in  its  developed 
stages,  should  constitute  an  organic,  generic  unity. 
Therefore  was  it  necessary  that  man  should  be  cre- 
ated as  an  individual  unit,  so  that  the  collective  race 
of  man,  to  as  great  numbers  as  were  demanded  for 
the  fulfilment  of  his  mission  upon  earth,  might  pro- 
ceed from  this  unit:  so  that,  as  says  the  apostle,^ 
God  might  make  ''of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  for 
to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth."  Hence  the 
necessity  of  deriving  both  sexes   from   the   human 

'  Matt.  22  :  30.  2  .^^^ts  17  :  2G. 


168         BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

being  first  created,  x^ot  only  was  all  humanity  to 
spring  from  one  pair  of  human  beings,  but  also,  in 
order  that  in  every  respect  the  unity  might  be  pre- 
served, woman  was  to  proceed  from  man.  But  as 
man  was  created  a  free  being,  he  could  be  the  sub- 
ject of  no  kind  of  development  —  not  even  that  of 
having  the  characteristic  of  sex  introduced  into  liis 
nature — without  his  own  choice  and  consent  in  the 
matter.  It  was  necessary  that  he  should  desire, 
choose,  and  will  this  change.  The  review  of  the 
animals,^  among  which  he  observed  the  development 
that  Avas  wanting  in  himself,  and  at  which  time  he 
looked  around  in  vain  amid  them  for  a  help-meet  of 
his  own  kind  (v.  20),  awakened  within  him  this  de- 
sire. God  graciously  met  his  wishes,  by  taking  from 
him  a  part  of  his  body,  and  forming  from  thence 
woman.  Adam  immediately  on  seeing  her  said: 
"  This  is  now  bone  of  my  bones,  and  flesh  of  my 
flesh.  She  shall  be  called  woman,  because  she  was 
taken  out  of  man." 

Upon  this  creative  act  of  God  rests  the  institution 
of  marriage,  with  its  blessing:  "Be  fruitful,  and 
multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth,  and  subdue  it." 
Marriage  was  the  condition  and  potent  beginning  of 
all  historical,  free,  personal  developments  of  man. 
It  w^as,  therefore,  necessary  that  it  should  precede 
man's  free,  moral  self-determination,  either  in  ac- 
cordance -with  or  against  the  will  of  God;  for  the 
latter  conducted  him  into  the  sphere  of  actual  his- 
tory.    The  decision  now  about  to  be  made,  was  to 

1  Gen.  2  :  20. 


THE     FALL.'  169 

be  the  decision  of  the  whole  race ;  the  triumph  of 
one  would  be  the  triumph  of  all,  but  also,  the  fall 
of  one  the  fall  of  all. 

§14.   The  Fall 

All  was  now  prepared  for  the  trial  of  man  —  it 
could,  however  fraught  with  woes,  he  deferred  no 
longer.  But  under  the  tree  which  was  to  be  con- 
cerned in  this  melancholy  trial,  appeared  suddenly 
and  unexpectedly,  another  and  a  strange  being  (as  a 
"-  dens  ex  machina"),  in  order  also  to  sustain  a  role, 
and  indeed  no  insignificant  one,  in  the  grand  drama 
which  was  about  to  be  enacted.  It  was  the  serpent^ 
the  most  subtile  beast  of  the  field. 

The  tree  of  knowledge  stood  in  the  midst  of  the 
garden,  (Chap.  3  :  3).  Upon  the  one  hand  was  the 
Divine  command:  "Thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it,"  and 
the  admonition  :  "  In  the  day  that  thou  eatest  thereof 
thou  shalt  surely  die."  On  the  other  hand  were  the 
allurements  of  the  serpent,  and  his  sadly  significant 
promise  :  "  In  the  day  ye  eat  thereof,  your  eyes  shall 
be  opened ;  and  ye  shall  be  as  gods,  knowing  good 
and  evil."  Between  these  two,  stood  man,  a  free 
being,  endowed  with  the  high  prerogative  of  liberty 
of  choice,  with  the  power  to  withstand  his  sore  trial, 
which  under  the  circumstances  amounted  even  to  a 
temptation  —  but  also  left  free  to  foil.  He  may,  nay 
he  ought  to  conquer ;  for  God  had  in  the  creation 
given  him  power  and  ability  for  a  triumph,  and 
had,  besides,  expressly  warned  him  against  sin,  and 
threatened  him  in  the  event  of  its  commission.  But 
it  was  also  possible  for  him  to  disregard  the  voice  of 
15 


170         BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE   WORLD. 

liis  Creator,  Avliich  so  graciously  warned  liim  and 
authoritatively  threatened  him ;  it  was  possible  for 
him  to  fail  of  being  true  to  the  destiny  which  God 
had  set  before  him,  it  Avas  possible  for  him  to  choose 
contrary  to  the  will  of  the  Maker. 

But  man  strangely  suffered  himself  to  be  ensnared  ; 
he  yielded  wliere  he  should  have  triumphed,  he  be- 
came a  slave  where  he  should  have  been  a  victor 
and  a  conqueror.  The  tempter  succeeded  in  im- 
planting base  and  sinful  desires  in  the  soul  of  man — 
in  breathing  into  him,  as  it  were,  another  breath, 
derived  from  beneath,  the  opposite  of  that  breath 
from  above  which  was  breathed  into  him  at  his  crea- 
tion. And  now  the  solemn  drama,  upon  whose  issue 
hangs  a  whole  world's  history,  hastens  to  its  tragic 
end.  The  woman  looks  upon  the  tree,  and  sees  that 
it  is  good  for  food,  and  that  it  is  pleasant  to  the  eyes, 
and  a  tree  to  be  desired  to  make  one  wise.  She 
takes  of  its  fruit  and  eats;  she  gives  thereof  to  her 
husband,  and  he  eats  also.  ''  Then  when  lust  hath 
conceived,  it  bringeth  forth  sin;  and  sin,  when  it  is 
finished,  bringeth  forth  death.'' ' 

God,  who  so  lately  condescended  graciously  to  warn 
man  against  the  commission  of  sin,  has  now  become 
a  requiting  judge.  A  curse  lights  upon  the  serpent: 
to  be  cursed  above  all  beasts  of  the  field,  trodden  in 
the  dust,  hated  of  all  creatures,  and  bruised  by  the 
seed  of  the  woman  —  this  is  its  well-merited  lot.  A 
curse  lights  upon  the  woman:  in  sorrow  is  she  to 
bring  forth  children,  her  desire  is  to  be  unto  her  hus- 
band, and  she  is  to  be  subject  to  him.    A  curse  lights 

'  Jas.  1 :  15. 


THE     FALL.  171 

upon  the  man:  in  the  sweat  of  his  face  is  he  to  eat 
his  bread,  until  he  return  to  the  earth  from  whence  he 
was  taken.  Finall}^,  a  curse  hghts  upon  nature,  in 
the  midst  of  which  man  is  to  have  his  abode  —  a 
curse  on  man's  account :  thorns  and  thistles  are  to 
be  brought  forth  by  the  ground.  —  Man  is  driven 
from  the  garden  in  Eden :  cherubims  with  flaming 
swords  cut  off  all  approach  to  the  tree  of  life,  —  lest 
man  should  put  forth  his  hand,  and  take  of  its  fruit, 
and  eat,  and  live  for  ever. 

The  trial  and  decision  of  man  was  the  offspring 
of  necessity — but  not  his  fall  and  rebellion.  How- 
ever, what  had  been  a  possibility  had  now  become 
a  reality.  The  deceptive  promise  of  the  serpent  was 
fulfilled:  man's  eyes  were  opened  (Chap.  3  :  7), — 
but  he  saw  onl}^  his  misery  and  nakedness.  He  was 
now  brought  to  know  good  and  evil ;  but  with  the 
painful  consciousness  of  having  trifled  with  and  lost 
the  one,  and  of  being  sunk  into  the  depths  of  woe 
by  the  other.  He  had  become  as  a  god :  he  had 
boldly  cast  off"  all  allegiance  to  the  one  God,  and 
assumed  sovereignty  over  himself.  He  had  consti- 
tuted himself  a  god,  no  longer  the  representative  of 
God ;  he  had  become  his  own  master,  free  as  God — 
but  this  likeness  to  God  brought  not  with  it  the 
happiness  which  pertains  to  the  Divine  Being,  but 
was  fraught  with  the  deepest  misery  and  woe. 

Man,  by  yielding  up  his  will  to  the  will  of  the 
tem.pter,  and  t)pposing  the  will  of  his  Maker,  fell 
into  sm,  and  also  into  death,i\\Q  wages  of  sin.  Who- 
soever committoth  sin  is  the  servant  of  sin  —  true 
freedom  is  to  be  found  alone  in  communion  with 


172         BIBLICAL   THEORY    OF   THE    WOULD. 

God,  the  everlasting  source  and  archetype  of  freedom. 
By  means  of  man's  freedom  was  it  possible  for  him 
to  choose  sin,  but  in  this  very  choice  of  sin  he  lost 
all  freedom  to  escape  from  its  power.  By  no  possi- 
bility can  man  redeem  himself. 

Along  with  man,  and  on  his  account,  nature  also, 
in  the  midst  of  which  he  was  to  live  and  act,  fell 
under  the  curse  of  sin,  and  the  dominion  of  death.^ 
The  connection  and  the  relation  between  spirit  and 
nature,  mind  and  matter,  was  the  ready  channel  by 
which  destruction  and  death  were  poured  out  over 
the  material  world,  appointed  as  the  dwelling-place 
of  man. 

By  means  of  the  unity  of  the  human  race, arising 
from  the  mode  of  its  propagation,  the  whole  race 
fell  in  and  along  with  Adam ;  for  he  at  this  time  was 
still  the  whole  race.  K  the  root  was  impregnated 
with  poison,  it  was  impossible  but  that  all  the  boughs 
and  branches  of  the  tree  which  was  to  spring  there- 
from, should  be  pervaded  with  the  same  deadly 
qualities.  All  subsequent  extensions  and  diffusions 
of  the  human  race,  could  therefore  but  extend  and 
diffuse  sin,  and  death,  the  wages  of  sin,  but  never 
check  or  destroy  them. 

§15.  The  Tempter. 
I:Tew  problems  and  new  mysteries  are  contained  in 
that  portion  of  the  primeval  history  of  the  human 
race  which  we  have  just  now  surveyed.  Mysterious 
and  enigmatical  was  the  nature  and  origin  of  the  ser- 
2:)ent,  which  there  took  so  conspicuous  a  position  in 

*  Gen.  3  :  17  seqq ;  Rom.  8 :  19  seqq. 


THE    TEMPTER.  173 

the  foreground  of  the  history;  niysterions  its  sudden 
appearance,  its  complete,  its  inveterate  hostilit}'  to- 
ward God,  its  connection  with  and  relation  to  that 
fatal  tree,  and  no  less  mysterious  the  curse  it  bore 
off  from  the  scene  of  action. 

Was  that,  indeed,  merely  a  common  serpent,  such 
as  may  at  any  time  be  met  with  in  our  fields  and 
forests,  and  nothing  more  ? 

That  it  was  a  real  serpent,  the  animal  which  we 
call  by  that  name,  cannot  be  doubted  for  a  single 
moment.  Its  specific  name,  the  other  epithets  by 
which  it  is  designated,  and  the  mode  in  which  the 
curse  pronounced  upon  it  was  to  take  effect,  all  force 
us  to  hold  fast  the  opinion  that  it  was  a  real  serpent. 

But  was  it  nothing  more  ?  Should  not  the  capa- 
city and  manner  in  which  it  now  appeared,  just  at 
the  critical  moment,  its  consummate  treachery,  its 
well-concealed  fraud,  its  well-applied  tactics,  point 
us  to  some  fearful  mysterj-,  which  for  the  present 
stage  of  revelation  was  still  to  be  kept  close  ?  Should 
not  all  this  lead  us  to  conclude  upon  the  existence  of 
some  personal,  spiritual  power,  to  whom  it  was  of 
the  last  interest  to  disturb  the  designs  and  the  work 
of  God,  and  bring  to  naught  the  counsels  of  Divine 
love  toward  the  human  race  ?  which  made  both  the 
tree  and  the  serpent  the  gladly-found  instruments  of 
its  despicable  designs? 

The  view  imprinted  upon  the  account,  of  the  iden- 
tity of  the  serpent  and  the  spiritual  agency  connected 
with  it — let  the  real  connection  between  the  two 
have  been  what  it  ma}^ — was  natural  enough,  and  to 
the  mind  of  Adam,  at  least  prior  to  the  fall,  wholly 
15^ 


174         BIBLICAL   THEORY   OF   THE   WORLD. 

correct;  for  tlien  his  whole  manner  of  thought  and 
perception  was  direct,  immediate,  and  unsupported 
by  reflection.  But  immediately  after  the  fall,  w^hen 
he  had  begun  to  learn  about  evil,  reflection  would 
begin  to  assert  its  prerogatives,  and  busy  itself  in 
trying  to  divine  the  connection  between  the  outward 
manifestation  and  the  hidden  cause  of  evil.  Thus 
even  at  that  early  time  would  it  be  discovered  that 
there  had  been  active  in  the  serpent,  or  in  connection 
with  it,  an  evil  spiritual  agency  or  being.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  very  soon,  in  addition  to  the  tradi- 
tion of  this  affair  of  the  serpent,  as  it  appeared  to 
the  senses,  there  would  be  subjoined  a  traditional 
explanation  of  its  nature,  and  its  connection  with  an 
unseen,  mysterious  agency.  But  whilst  both  the 
fact  and  its  attempted  explanation  w^ere  confounded 
and  obscured  in  the  traditions  of  the  heathen  nations, 
the  author  of  Genesis  took  up  the  original  tradition 
in  its  pure  form,  and  without  any  attempt  at  un- 
raveling its  mysteries ;  perhaps,  for  this  reason,  as 
Delitzsch^  supposes,  that  their  disclosure  w^ould  have 

'  The  narrator  satisfies  himself  with  a  statement  merely  of  the 
outward  occurrence,  without  lifting  the  veil  from  the  secret ;  and 
this  he  could  well  do,  as  the  traditions  of  the  heathen  themselves 
supplied  more  particular  though  distorted  accounts  of  the  matter. 
He  kept  the  matter  veiled  because  its  explanation  would  not  have 
been  proper  for  the  people  of  his  age,  so  much  inclined  to  hea- 
thenish superstition  and  intercourse  with  demons.  It  was  from 
design  and  in  view  of  the  best  interests  of  that  age  that  the  nar- 
rator remained  silent  about  all  but  merely  the  fact  as  it  occurred 
and  seemed  to  the  senses.  It  may  be  observed  that  the  Penta- 
teuch very  rarely  makes  mention  of  demons  in  other  places  (Gen. 
6:2;  Lev.  16;  Deut.  32 :  17). 


PROSPECT     or    REDEMPTION.  175 

been  projuclicial  to  the  interests  of  thut  age.  "The 
history  would  be  clear  enough  and  significant  enough 
to  every  discerning  mind  without  any  such  explana- 
tions." 

A  jjersonal  being  besides  man  —  an  evil  being — 
was,  therefore,  on  the  scene  of  action  previous  to 
man's  creation.  Moreover,  as  God  is  so  unequivo- 
ally  called  the  Creator  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth, 
and  all  things  therein,  it  is  obvious  beyond  all  dispute, 
that  this  spiritual,  this  personal  power,  was  a  creature 
of  God ;  and  further,  since,  according  to  all  Scrip- 
ture, only  that  which  is  holy  and  good  can  proceed 
from  the  hand  of  God,  that  this  spiritual  being  was 
originally  a  holy  one  —  but  now  fallen  from  its  first 
estate  and  high  destiny,  and  become  evil  and  sinful, 
by  the  abuse  of  its  personal  freedom.  It  is  equally 
obvious,  as  a  necessary  inference,  that  a  history  of 
vast  power,  and  pregnant  w^ith  the  most  fatal  con- 
sequences, must  have  been  enacted  previous  to  the 
creation  of  man. 

Clear  and  definite  views,  however,  in  regard  to  the 
origin,  progress  and  end  of  this  history,  its  mission, 
its  design  and  its  consequences,  are  not  to  be  gathered 
from  revelation  —  at  least,  from  that  portion  of  it  to 
which  our  attention  has  thus  far  been  confined.  But 
further  disclosures  are  made  by  subsequent  revela- 
tions, the  investigation  of  which  will  soon  claim  our 
attention. 

§  16.  Prospect  of  Redemption. 

The  human  race  had  now  entered  upon  a  new 
course  of  development,  which  would  have  hurried  it 


176         BIBLICAL   THEORY    OF   THE   WORLD. 

on  to  the  most  irremecliable  destruction,  so  that  it 
could  never  have  returned  and  laid  hold  again  on  its 
original  and  high  destinj^,  had  God  abandoned  it  to 
its  own  choosings,  had  he  not  taken  the  marred 
work  again  into  his  own  hands,  and  brought  about 
a  new  state  of  affairs. 

But  it  was  the  will  of  God  that  we  should  be  a  new 
race  in  Christ :  ''  He  hath  chosen  us  in  him^  before  the 
foundation  of  the  world.'' ^ 

The  designs  and  plans  of  the  tempter  seemed  com- 
pletely successful.  The  promise:  "ye  shall  be  as 
Gods,"  was  fulfilled" — in  the  deceitful  sense  in- 
tended. But  the  deceiver  was  caught  in  his  own 
snare ;  he  had  derided  man,  the  image  of  God,  with 
the  most  malicious  irony ; — God  now  derides  him  in 
return,  with  the  irony  of  ahoty  and  avenging  judge.^ 
The  tempter  unconsciously  foretold  his  own  judg- 
ment and  sentence,  in  those  jeering,  equivocal  words. 
For  God  had,  in  prospect  of  the  fall,  laid  the  plan  of 
redemption  before  the  foundation  of  the  world  ;  and 
from  this  plan,  which  began  to  be  developed  in  his- 
tory iinmediately  after  the  fall,  those  words  derive  a 
third  and  a  deep  sense,  w^hich  never  struck  the 
tempter's  mind.  Redemption  was  provided  in  con- 
sequence of  the  fall.  In  effecting  it  God  became  as 
man,  in  order  that  man,  truly  and  in  the  proper  sense 
of  the  words,  might  become  as  God. 

Man,  though  fallen,  was  indeed  still  capable  of 

beinof  redeemed.     He  did  not  eno;ender  evil  within 

himself  of  his  own  accord  ;  nay,  rather,  it  was  forced 

upon  him  from  without,  but  still,  by  a  powder  which 

'Eph.  1:4  2  Compare  Ps.  2  :  4. 


PROSPECT     OF    PvEDEMPTION.  177 

he  could  and  should  have  withstood.  His  whole 
being,  the  whole  intricate  web  of  his  life,  w^as  per- 
vaded and  poisoned  by  sin.  But  sin  w^as  still  some- 
thing foreign  to  it.  His  very  being  had  not  itself 
become  identical  w^ith  sin.  For  there  was  somethino; 
still  remaining  in  him,  and  there  still  remains  in  all 
his  descendants  something  which  reacts  against  sin, 
opposes  it,  and  finds  no  pleasure  in  its  commission  ;^ 
it  rather  reproves  and  chastises  the  perpetrator  on 
account  of  his  sins.  And  in  spite  of  all  want  of 
delight  in  God  and  in  his  service,  which  discovers 
itself  in  the  heart  of  fallen  man,  there  still  dwells 
there  an  earnest  longing  after  something  of  a  higher 
and  holier  nature,  something  invisible — a  longing 
which  the  things  of  this  world  can  never  satisfy. 
Both  his  accusing  conscience  and  his  longing  after 
communion  w^ith  God,  proceed  from  the  Divine 
image  wdthin  him.  For  this  Divine  image,  however 
much  it  has  been  impaired,  clouded  and  darkened  by 
sin,  has  not  been  wholly  obliterated  and  destroyed  ;^ 
and  man  still  continues,  notwithstanding  the  fall,  the 
oifspring  of  God.-^  So  long  as  the  faintest  spark  of 
the  heavenly  tire  still  remains  amid  the  ruins  of  sin, 
it  may,  under  proper  treatment  and  with  the  timely 
supply  of  aid,  be  again  fanned  into  a  glorious  and 
heavenly  flame. 

That  voice  of  longing,  those  fond  hopes  of  restora- 
tion and  redemption,  are  heard,like  the  echoes  of  the 
longing  and  groaning  of  the  human  race,  throughout 
the  whole  creation  which  fell  through  and  along  with 
man.     For  the  earnest  expectation  of  the  creature 

»  Kora.  7  :  15,  IG.       2  Qen.  9:6;  Jas.  3  :  0.       ^  ^^ts  17  :  28. 


178         BIBLICAL    THEORY   OF   THE   WORLD. 

chimes  in  with  our  longings ;  the  whole  creation 
gmaneth,  and  travaileth  in  pain  together  until  now.^ 

In  consequence  of  the  Divine  decree,  concluded  in 
eternity,  and  resting  on  the  grace  of  a  merciful  God, 
as  well  as  on  man's  need  and  capability  of  being 
redeemed,  that  salvation  so  long  in  waiting,  began 
now  to  be  manifested,  and  to  enter  into  history  as 
the  spring  of  its  movements  and  the  regulator  of  its 
developments. 

But  man  still  retained,  even  after  the  fall,  his  free- 
dom of  choice.  And  as  he  had  freely  taken  upon 
himself  the  commission  and  guilt  of  sin,  it  was  also 
necessary  that  he  should  now  freely  appropriate  to 
himself  the  offered  salvation.  As  sin  was  not  irre- 
sistibly forced  upon  him,  so  neither  was  it  fittiug 
that  salvation  should  be.  It  was  possible  for  him  to 
reject  the  offered  boon,  and  to  persist  in  that  un- 
natural, perverted  course  of  development,  he  had  so 
unhappily  entered  upon,  and  which  would  conduct 
him  to  final,  to  irretrievable  destruction,  as  its  natural 
and  unavoidable  goal.  His  first  decision,  as  he  stood 
beneath  the  tree  of  knowledge,  was  not  an  absolutely 
final  one  ;  since,  before  such  an  one  could  be  made, 
it  were  necessary  that  the  object  chosen  be  fully 
understood,  in  all  its  relations;  and  no  less,  that  the 
subject  choosing  have  all  his  faculties  and  powers 
fully  developed.  These  were  confessedly  both  want- 
ing in  the  case  of  Adam.  The  degeneracy  of  the 
whole  man,  which  was  introduced  by  the  fall,  was 
not,  indeed,  absolute,  hopeless ;  since  he  was  still 
susceptible  of  being  regenerated  by  the  power  of 

Mlom.  8 :  19-22. 


PROSPECT     or     REDEMPTION.  179 

God,  on  the  principle  of  previous  incomplete  know- 
ledge and  imperfect  development.  But  the  second 
decision  of  man,  which  is  rendered  necessary  by  the 
offer  of  salvation,  becomes  an  absolute,  a  final  one, 
since  the  above  principle  will  no  longer  apply — since 
the  restrictions  of  the  first  decision  are  now  entirely 
removed.  Faith,  which  eagerly  lays  hold  of  the 
offered  salvation,  and  unbelief,  which  persistently 
rejects  it,  stand,  respectively,  at  the  entrance  of  the 
two  ever-diverging  paths  of  this  final  decision. 

The  mercy  of  God,  who  would  prepare  man  for 
redemption,  was  abundantly  involved  in  the  sentence 
of  punishment  which  the  judicial  severity  of  God 
pronounced  upon  him.^  For  all  the  curses  and  pun- 
ishments there  inflicted  upon  him,  include,  also, 
benefits  and  blessings.  Though  the  woman  was  to 
bring  forth  children  in  sorrow^  still,  she  was  to  bring 
forth ;  and  Adam  seems  to  have  had  some  intima- 
tion of  the  blessing  involved  in  this  curse,  for  he,  in 
reference  to  it,  and  very  significantly  too,  called  his 
wife.  Eve  —  the  mother  of  all  living.  The  former 
blessing:  "Be  fruitful  and  multiply,  and  replenish 
the  earth,  and  subdue  it,"  reappears  in  this  curse, 
with  the  prospect  of  its  being  fully  realized,  despite 
the  pervading  influence  of  sin.  The  possibility  of 
salvation  depended  upon  the  circumstance  of  there 
being  evolved  from  the  first  man,  who  potentially 
contained  the  whole  race,  a  human  race  closely  and 
essentially  bound  together  by  unity  of  blood ;  for 
redemption  was  to  be  brought  about,  by  the  Bedeem- 
er's  taking  upon  himself  human  flesh  and  blood. 
Gen.  3  :  lG-19^ 


ISO         BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WOBLD. 

Had  God  in  rigliteous  judgment  recalled  the  blessing, 
that  "man  should  increase  and  multiply,"  had  man 
remained  in  his  undeveloped  unity,  he  could  not  have 
been  redeemed. 

To  tabor  in  the  sweat  of  his  face,  which  -was  as- 
signed to  the  man  as  his  special  lot,  was  a  palliative 
and  an  antidote  against  the  power  of  sin.  Thus,  too, 
even  his  expulsion  from  Paradise,  *'  lest  he  eat  of  the 
tree  of  life,  and  live  for  ever,'*  and  death  itself,  in- 
volved both  a  penalty  and  a  gracious  gift.  For  had 
man  eaten  of  that  tree,  his  life  upon  earth,  loaded 
^vith  curses  as  it  now  was,  with  miseries  and  corrup- 
tions, would  have  become  eternal,  and  all  possibility 
of  his  becoming  released  from  the  consequences  of 
sin,  would  have  been  for  ever  set  aside. ^  Bodily 
death,  on  the  contrary,  which  without  the  interven- 
tion of  redemption  would  have  been  hut  a  curse  and 
eternal  ruin,  now  becomes,  through  that  redemption, 
an  everlasting  and  invaluable  blessing.  For  sinful 
man  attains  to  the  resurrection,  through  death  alone  : 
his  body  is  "raised  in  incorruption,"  only  on  condi- 
tion of  its  having  previously  been  "  sown  in  corrup- 
tion." 

'  Deliizsch  is  of  the  same  opinion  on  this  point.  He  beautifullj 
and  appropriately  remarks  (Gen.  144):  "This  tree  had  doubtless 
the  power  to  completely  counteract  the  mortality  (the  '  posse  mori') 
of  man,  and  to  advance  and  gradually  bring  into  a  most  glorious 
state  his  corporeal  nature.  To  have  eaten  of  its  fruit  now,  would 
have  established  him  for  ever  in  his  present  condition  of  sad  con- 
nection with  sin,  both  spiritually  and  corporeally,  and  produced, 
as  DrecJisJer  very  properly  remarks,  a  change  in  his  physical  na- 
ture, corresponding  to  the  state  of  his  soul,  gradually  transform- 
ing it  into  an  infernal  body,  the  horrible  caricature  of  the  glori- 
fied body. 


PROSPECT     OF    REDEMPTION.  181 

The  first  express  announcement  of  a  coming  sal- 
vation, upon  which  faith  might  already  lay  hold,  and 
unbelief  destroy  itself,  was  furnished  by  the  curse 
pronounced  upon  the  tempted :  ^  "  Cursed  art  thou 
above  all  cattle,  and  every  beast  of  the  field :  upon 
thy  belly  shalt  thou  go,  and  dust  shalt  thou  eat  all 
the  days  of  thy  life  :  and  I  will  put  enmity  between 
thee  and  the  woman,  and  between  th}^  seed  and  her 
seed :  it  shall  bruise  thy  head,  and  thou  shalt  bruise 
his  heel." 

This  curse  pronounced  upon  the  serpent  has,  so 
far  as  it  contains  a  gracious  promise  to  man,  been 
very  properly  styled  the  proto-evangelium — the  first 
announcement  of  salvation. 

The  Biblical  account  represents  the  recollections 
and  views  of  the  first  pair,  preserved  by  sacred  tra- 
dition as  the  venerable  relics  of  a  primitive  age,  in 
their  original  character  and  marked  objectivity.  The 
Protoplasts,  however,  regarded  the  subtile  beast  of 
the  field,  and  the  personal,  spiritual  tempter — what- 
ever connection  really  subsisted  between  the  two  — 
as  strictly  identical.  The  identity  of  the  two  seems 
to  be  as  unmistakable  in  the  curse  now  pronounced 
upon  the  serpent,  as  it  was  before  in  the  visible  ap- 
pearance and  crafty  wiles  of  that  animal.  The  curse, 
the  whole  curse^  is  formally/  pronounced  upon  the  ser- 
pent, singly  and  alone.  But  the  curse  was  pronounced 

»  Gen.  2  :  13-15. 

2  It  is  but  an  arbitrary  assertion,  justifiable  in  no  possible  way, 
to  say  that  the  first  part  of  the  curse  refers  to  the. serpent  itself, 
as  the  instrument  of  the  temptation,  and  the  second  to  the  devil 
as  the  personal  agent  of  it. 

16 


for  mans  sake  alone,  not  for  the  sake  of  the  serpent; 
it  was,  accordingly,  adapted  to  the  views  of  7nan,  who 
did  not  yet  discriminate  between  the  visible  appear- 
ance and  the  spiritual  agency  engaged  in  the  tempta- 
tion. To  man,  the  tempter  appeared  as  a  serpent ;  in 
his  view,  accordingly,  the  curse  which  was  directed 
against  the  serpent,  really  was  a  curse  pronounced 
upon  the  first  author  of  sin  ;  and  the  prospective 
defeat  and  destruction  of  the  serpent,  through  the  seed 
of  the  woman,  was  regarded  as  a  deliverance  from 
the  power  and  influence  of  the  author  of  sin. 

A  gracious  promise  following  immediately  in  the 
footsteps  of  the  first  sin !  The  Divine  N'emesis 
judging  the  betrayer  through  the  betrayed,  conquer- 
ing the  victor  through  the  vanquished !  Divine 
compassion  hastening  to  pour  the  healing  balm  into 
the  fresh  and  bleeding  wound ! 

Man  was  not  subjected  by  the  fall  alone,  without 
any  further  straying  from  the  path  of  obedience, 
wholly  to  the  will  of  Satan,  in  servitude  and  obedi- 
ence. AVhile  sin  implanted  in  him  a  principle  of 
opposition  to  God,  he  still  retained,  ever  since  his 
creation,  a  principle  of  opposition  to  the  tempter  also. 
God  assigns  to  the  latter  (this  is  obviously  the  mean- 
ing of  the  first  promise)  the  victory  over  the  former. 
Although  man  had  permitted  himself  to  be  seduced 
into  a  union  with  Satan,  that  union  was  not  to  be 
permanent.  Not  friendship  and  union  were  to  exist 
between  the  two,  as  the  issue  of  the  first  decision 
might  lead  us  to  expect;  but  rather,  through  the 
Divine  interposition  and  aid,  enmity  and  continued 
warfare,  which  were  ultimately  to  terminate  in  the 


P  Tt  0  S  P  E  C  T     OP    K  E  D  E  M  P  T  I  0  N  .  183 

complete  defeat  of  the  tempter.  Eve,  the  mother  of 
all  living,  was  to  bring  forth  children,  and  the  seed 
of  the  Avoman  was  to  bruise  the  head  of  the  serpent ; 
i.  e.  the  human  race,  as  a  whole,  was  to  maintain  a 
contest  Avith  the  author  of  sin,  and  destroy  the  king- 
dom which  he  had  established. 

The  propagation  of  sin  is  inseparably  connected 
with  the  mysterious  propagation  of  the  human  race — 
"for  that  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh."  But 
the  same  mystery  of  generation  and  birth  is  also  the 
vehicle  and  medium  of  salvation  —  "for  that  wdiich 
is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  spirit."^ 

But  man  can  receive  nothing,  except  it  be  given 
him  from  above.^  After  he  had  become  flesh, 
through  the  commission  of  sin,  it  was  no  more  pos- 
sible that  the  Spirit  should  be  born  of  the  flesh. 
Consequently  it  was  necessary  that  the  Spirit  should 
flrst  be  born  into  the  flesh,  in  order  that  it  might  then 
unfold  itself  naturally,  and  according  to  the  laws  of 
its  own  generation  and  propagation.  But  this  birth 
of  the  Spirit  could  be  effected  only  by  an  act  on  the 
part  of  God  —  such  an  act  as  the  implantation  of 
moral  and  intellectual  faculties  in  man  at  the  time 
of  his  first  creation.  There  was  then  breathed  into 
human  nature,  a  breath  of  the  Divine  life,  a  trans- 
cript of  his  own  Being.  But  there  is  here  wanting 
something  of  a  still  higher  and  better  nature.  It 
becomes  necessary  that  the  Divine  Being  himself, 
the  fulness  of  the  Godhead,  should  condescend  to 
take  upon  himself  our  nature,  that  he  might  raise  us 
from  the  depths  of  the  fall,  to  our  original  and  high 
»  Jno.  zTo.  ^  Jno.  3  :  27. 


184         BIBLICAL    TIIEOBY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

destiny,  and  conduct  us  to  the  goal  of  our  develop- 
ment as  it  was  appointed  from  eternity.  All  human 
destinies  or  ends,  however,  depend  upon  the  race 
being  unfolded  from  unity  to  plurality ;  and  the 
unity  of  the  race,  in  spite  of  its  numbers,  is  a  cardi- 
nal principle  in  God's  dealings  with  it.  As,  there- 
fore, sin  passed  from  one  man  over  the  whole  race, 
so  in  like  manner  must  salvation  be  derived  and 
applied  from  the  one  to  the  many.  "  Therefore  as 
by  the  offence  of  one,  judgment  came  upon  all  men 
to  condemnation ;  even  so  by  the  righteousness  of 
one,  the  free  gift  came  upon  all  men  to  justification 
of  life."  "For,  as  by  one  man's  disobedience  many 
were  made  sinners  ;  so  by  the  obedience  of  one  shall 
many  be  made  righteous.' 

It  was  necessary  that  the  neiv  development,  with 
all  its  supernatural,  its  Divine,  life-giving  powers, 
should  commence  at  a  point  in  the  old,  the  natural 
development,  specially  prepared  and  adapted  for  its 
reception  ;  that  it  miglit  thence  extend  itself,  through 
spiritual  gQnQY'A\AO\\  and  the  new  birth,  over  the  whole 
human  race.  When  this  point  in  the  old  develop- 
ment was  reached,  when  all  was  prepared,  then  was 
it  said :  "  The  Holy  Ghost  shall  come  upon  thee,  and 
the  power  of  the  Highest  shall  overshadow  thee : 
therefore  also  that  holy  thing  which  shall  be  born  of 
thee,  shall  be  called  the  Son  of  God."^ 

From  that  promise  which  gave  to  the  "  seed  of  the 
woman"  the  final  and  complete  victory  over  the  seed 
of  the  serpent,  there  is  carefully  preserved  to  us  by 
sacred  history,  an  uninterrupted  series  of  generations 
"  >  Eom.  5  :  18,  19.  ^^L^Ik^TTss! 


PROSPECT    OF    REDEMPTION.  185 

of  men,  stretching  tlirougli  all  history  down  to  the 
time  of  Christ.  These  were  all  characterized  by  the 
presence  of  prophetic  powers,  and  in  turn  possessed 
and  transmitted  this  significant  promise  as  a  precious 
token  of  the  Divine  good  will.  They  closed  in  the 
birth  of  the  second  Adam,  in  whom  all  promises  are 
fulfilled.  He,  as  the  second  head  of  the  human 
race,  Avas  to  take  up  again  that  development  which 
had  been  marred  and  interrupted  by  the  fall,  and 
conduct  it  to  its  ultimate  completion.  He  also,  in 
the  same  capacity,  was  to  be  the  chosen  captain  and 
leader  of  hosts  in  the  contest  between  the  seed  of 
the  woman  and  the  seed  of  the  serpent  —  it  was 
through  his  Divine  power  also  that  the  great,  the 
final  victory  was  to  be  gained. 

Thus  has  this  significant  promise  placed  before 
both  the  betrayer  and  the  betrayed,  a  long  and  severe 
conflict — one  that  is  to  extend  throughout  the  whole 
history  of  the  world,  but  whose  last,  whose  decisive 
issue,  in  spite  of  all  the  varied  phases  it  may  assume 
during  its  progress,  is  not  left  in  the  least  doubt. 
But  we  must  gain  clearer  views  of  the  enemy  against 
whom  this  war  is  to  be  waged,  before  we  proceed  to 
contemplate  the  contest  itself,  its  varied  phases  and 
its  final  issue.  We  are  pressed  by  every  considera- 
tion to  commence  our  inquiries  at  once,  just  at  the 
point  which  we  have  now  reached,  and  they  may  not 
well  be  deferred  longer.  We  shall  have  to  pass  over 
considerable  ground  in  canying  out  our  design,  but 
the  reader  will  bear  patiently  with  us,  as  these  pre- 
liminary researches^  are  not  alone  important  in  con- 

'  [The  reader  will  observe  that  from  the  close  of  this  section  to 

16* 


186         BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

nection  with  the  special  point  before  us,  but  are  of 
equal  w^eight  in  connection  with  the  leading  objects 
of  the  w^hole  treatise. 

§  17.    The  3Iorning  Stars  and  the  Sons  of  Crod. 

In  addition  to  the  Hexeemeron  in  the  1st  Chapter 
of  Genesis,  and  the  celebration  of  the  creation  con- 
tained in  the  104th  Psalm,  the  Book  of  Job  furnishes 
us  with  a  wholly  independent  description  of  several 
points  in  the  process  of  creation.^ 

God  there  speaks  thus  to  Job : 

"  Gird  up  now  thy  loins  like  a  man  ; 

For  I  will  demand  of  thee,  and  answer  thou  me. 

"Where  wast  thou  when  I  laid  the  foundation  of  the 

earth  ? 
Declare,if  thou  hast  understanding. 
Who  laid  the  measures  thereof,  if  thou  know^est  ? 
Or  who  hath  stretched  the  line  upon  it? 
Whereupon  are  the  foundations  thereof  fastened  ? 
Or  who  laid  the  corner-stone  thereof, 
When  the  morning  stars  sang  together, 
And  all  the  so7is  of  God  shouted  for  jog  ! 
Or  who  shut  up  the  sea  Avith  doors, 
When  it  brake  forth,  as  if  it  had  issued  out  of  the 

w^omb ! 

the  commencement  of  the  29th,  the  author  is  engaged  in  the  con- 
sideration of  the  angels,  and  other  matters  pertaining  to  the  ex- 
tramundane  relations  of  the  world's  history.  At  the  latter  point 
mentioned  (^  29),  he  again  takes  up  the  history  of  the  contest 
between  light  and  darkness,  having  gained  the  information  neces- 
sary to  a  more  complete  understanding  of  this  contest. — Tr.] 

^  Job  38  :  3  scqq. 


THE    MORNING     STARS.  187 

When  I  made  the  cloud  the  garment  thereof, 

And  thick  darkness  a  swaddling  band  for  it, 

And  brake  np  for  it  my  decreed  place, 

And  set  bars  and  doors, 

And  said,  Hitherto  shalt  thou  come,  but  no  further ; 

And  here  shall  thy  proud  waves  be  sta^^ed !" 

It  will  be  perceived  that  this  description  coincides 
in  several  points  with  the  Mosaic  history  of  the  crea- 
tion : — with  regard  to  the  founding  of  the  earth,  the 
origination  of  the  atmosphere,  and  the  bounding  of 
the  seas  —  all  of  them  there  referred  to  the  second 
and  third  days'  work.  But  we  are  also  favored  with 
something  entirely  ncAV,  and  peculiar  to  this  poetical 
picture:  When  God  laid  the  foundations  of  the 
earth,  the  morriing  stars  rejoiced  together,  and  the 
sons  of  God  sang  their  songs  of  praise  to  the  works 
of  an  all-wise  and  almighty  Creator.  The  morning 
stars  and  the  sons  of  God  were  hence  in  existence 
before  the  foundations  of  the  earth  were  laid.  They 
existed — taking  this  description  in  connection  with 
the  Mosaic — previous  to  the  six  days'  work. 

Bat  what  were  these  morning  stars  ?  and  who  were 
the  sons  of  God  ? 

The  morning  stars  were,  doubtless,  the  stellar 
w^orlds,  those  glorious  spheres  of  light  which  ever 
spangle  the  vault  of  heaven.  They  were  called 
morning  stars  —  not  evening  stars  —  because,  in  the 
mind  of  the  prophet,  it  was  morning  \vhen  God 
began  to  lay  the  foundations   of  the   earth.^     The 

'  Comp.  Schlottmann:  "  By  a  most  beautiful  figure  the  stars  are 
all  here  called,  in  respect  to  the  great  morning  of  creation,  morn- 
ing stars."     So  also  A.  Halm  and  others. 


188         BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF   THE   WORLD. 

voice  of  rejoicing  and  exultation  with  which  they 
celebrated  the  dawning  of  creation's  lirst  morn,  was 
none  other  than  that  silent  but  eloquent  language 
in  which  they  still  declare  the  glory  of  God,  as  sings 
the  Psalmist:^ 

"The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God; 
And  the  firmament  showeth  his  handy  work. 
Day  unto  day  uttereth  speech. 
And  night  unto  night  showeth  knowledge. 
There  is  no  speech  nor  language, 
"Where  their  voice  is  not  heard. 
Their  line  is  gone  out  through  all  the  earth, 
And  their  words  to  the  end  of  the  world." 

"We  here,  as  it  would  appear,  meet  with  a  contra- 
diction to  the  Mosaic  account.  For  while,  according 
to  the  Hex8emeron,  the  sun,  moon  and  stars  were 
first  placed  in  the  firmament  on  the  fourth  day,  sub- 
sequently to  the  formation  of  the  atmosphere,  the 
land,  and  the  sea,  the  Book  of  Job  represents  the 
starry  heavens,  with  all  their  magnificence  and  glor}^, 
as  alread}^  in  existence  when  the  foundations  of  the 
earth  were  laid — as  admiring  witnesses  of  the  crea- 
tive process.^ 

*  Ps.  19 :  1  seqq. 

2  Delitzsch  (p.  73),  as  also  Ilofmann  (p.  352),  is  unwilling  to 
recognize  any  force  in  the  passage  from  Job,  38  :  7,  as  applied 
above.  "  There  we  behold,"  says  Delitzsch,  "  the  accidental  poe- 
tical connection  of  the  great  facts  of  the  creation,  which  are  de- 
scribed by  the  Mosaic  record  in  their  chronological  order.  The 
choral  songs  of  the  angels  and  the  harmony  of  the  spheres,  refer 
prospectively  and  retrospectively  to  the  earth,  then  conceived  to 


THE    MORNING    STARS.  189 

But  we  have  already  learned  (§  8)  that  the  fourth 
day's  work  was  not  concerned  in  the  creation  and 
appointment  of  the  stars  to  be  what  they  are  in  them- 
selves, independent  of  all  connection  with  the  earth, 
but  only  in  fixing  these  bodies  in  their  relation  to  the 
earth  —  we  are  told  when  and  how  this  relation  was 
established.  The  question  touching  their  first,  their 
real  origin,  did  not  there  engage  the  attention  of  the 
prophet;  consequently  we  have  nothing  decisive 
upon  that  point.  If  it  be  true  that  we  are  here  to 
understand  that  the  stars  were  in  existence  before 
the  creation  of  the  earth,  the  discrepancy  between 
the  words  of  the  Book  of  Job  and  the  Mosaic  account, 
is  not  to  be  sought  in  an  irreconcilable  contradiction 

be  in  the  act  of  coming  into  being,  to  whatever  period  of  the  work 
of  the  creation  the  origin  of  the  angels  and  the  stars  must  be  re- 
ferred." AVe  willingly  allow  that  there  was  no  special  reason 
why  the  poet  should  here  strictly  observe  the  chronological  order 
of  the  different  points  in  the  process  of  creation,  and  note  the 
particular  days  to  which  they  severally  belonged  ;  nor  should  we 
be  disconcerted  were  it  even  shown  (which,  however,  it  cannot 
be)  that  there  is  in  this  mention  of  the  creation  some  inversion 
of  the  regular  order.  But  this  is  not  the  question.  The  passage 
before  us  does  not  in  general  refer  to  the  creation  of  the  angels 
and  morning  stars  at  all.  But  of  this  w^e  are  fully  assured :  that 
they  were  present  when  God  laid  the  foundations  of  the  earth  and 
gave  to  the  seas  their  bounds.  And  it  is  from  this  very  circum- 
stance that  they  so  oppositely  contrast  with  man,  who  ivas  not 
present  when  this  took  place.  ''Where  wast  thou,"  says  God, 
"  when  I  laid  the  foundations  of  the  earth,  when  the  morning  stars 
sang  together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy  ?"  The 
antithesis  here  involved  forces  us  to  take  the  "  when"  strictly, 
and  to  regard  a  recourse  to  anthems  of  praise  sung  retrospectively, 
as  the  offspring  of  arbitrary  interpretation,  and  a  sorry  expedient 
at  best. 


190         BIBLICAL   THEORY   OF   THE    WORLD. 

between  the  facts  upon  which  the  respective  accounts 
are  founded,  but  in  a  varying  apprehension  of  these 
facts,  arising  from  their  being  regarded  from  different 
points  of  view,  and  which  may  easily  be  explained. 

Consequently,  as  we  are  forced  to  believe  that  the 
stars  were  created  before  the  earth,  by  the  above 
lines  from  the  Book  of  Job,  and  as  the  Mosaic  cos- 
mogony permits  us  to  hold  such  a  view,  it  must  be 
granted  that,  according  to  the  Biblical  theory  of  the 
world,  the  stars  were  indeed  created  before  the  earth. 

The  phrase,  "  the  sons  of  God,''  is  no  less  clear  and 
unequivocal  than  the  above  expression,  "the  morn- 
ins:  stars."  These  "sons  of  God"  were  doubtless 
the  angels,  those  holy  beings  which  ever  surrounded 
the  throne  of  God,  in  readiness  to  execute  his  com- 
mands.^ They  are  called  angels,  from  their  serving 
in  the  capacity  of  messengers  and  servants  of  God ; 
this  name  is  derived  from  their  calling,  from  the 
offices  they  fill — it  is  their  official  name.  They  are 
called  sons  of  God  in  respect  to  their  nature  and  be- 
ing. In  contrast  to  the  weak,  sinful  children  of  men, 
the  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  they  are  designated  by 
this  name,  as  the  high  and  holy  inhabitants  of  hea- 
ven, who  sustain  and  reflect  His  majesty  and  glory.^ 

»  Job  1  :  6 ;  2  :  1 ;  Ps.  29  :  1  [in  the  original] ;  89  :  7  ;  103  : 
21,  etc. 

2  It  is  to  be  observed  licre,  that  the  angels  are  ever  called  the 
children  or  the  sons  of  God  (Bne  Elohim),  but  never  the  sons  of 
Jehovah.  The  name  Elohim  designates  the  Divine  Being  as  the 
fountain  of  all  life  and  power,  of  all  majesty,  glory,  holiness,  and 
blessedness  ;  Jehovah,  on  the  other  hand,  represents  Him  as  the 
gracious  and  merciful  God,  the  Redeemer  and  Saviour,  who  de- 


CORPOREALITY    OF    THE    ANGELS.        19l 

§  18.  Spirituality  and  Corporeality  of  the  Angeh. 

Let  us  now  pass  immediately  to  what  may  be  gath- 
ered from  the  Scriptures  concerning  the  nature,  the 
position,  the  mission,  and  the  history  of  the  angels. 

The  angels  are  spirits.^  This  term  expresses,  first, 
something  positive,  and  second,  something  yiegative 
concerning  the  nature  or  being  of  the  angels. 

The  idea  of  spirituality  is  the  positive  phase  of  this 
term.  According  to  it,  the  angels  are  free  personal- 
ities, endowed  with  self-consciousness,  in  opposition 
to  the  mere  offspring  of  nature,  incapable  of  freedom 
and  without  personality.  If,  in  accordance  with  the 
principles  of  division  which  universally  obtain,  we 
divide  all  created  things  into  spirit  and  nature,  we 
shall  have  no  difficulty  in  determining  to  which  of 
the  two  spheres  the  angels  belong. 

The  whole  Biblical  view  respecting  these  beings 
conforms  to  this  designation  of  them  as  spirits,  from 
the  most  essential  peculiarities  of  their  being.  They 
never  appear  as  mere  forces  of  nature,  or  as  uncon- 
scious, cosmical  life-potencies,  although  they  are,  in- 
deed, often  revealed  as  media  or  bearers  of  the  same.-^ 
No,  they  ever  appear  as  free  beings,  endowed  with 

nied  himself  to  save  man  from  destruction,  and  exalt  him  to  par- 
take of  the  glory  of  His  heavenly  abode.  (Comp.,  for  further 
particulars,  my  work :  Die  Einlieit  der  Genesis,  Berlin,  1846,  p, 
43-53).  The  sons  of  Elohim  are  therefore  the  media  and  bearers 
of  the  divine  might  and  glory:  the  sons  of  JeJwvah^  on  the  con- 
trary, the  media  and  bearers  of  his  redeeming  grace.  In  tliis  lat- 
ter sense  Israel  is  called  the  first-born  son  of  the  Lord  (Jehovah), 
(Ex.  4  :  22). 

'  Tti/fUjwafa,  Ileb.  1 :  14,  *  Compare  John  5  :  4. 


192  BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

consciousness  and  possessed  of  an  independent  spiri- 
tual existence,  whose  will  is  never  constrained  to  ac- 
cord with  the  will  and  designs  of  their  Creator,  but 
is  left  to  choose  and  decide  for  itself. 

It  is  the  high  prerogative  of  the  created  spirit  to 
determine  itself,  and  freely  enter  any  course  of  de- 
velopment it  takes.     For  this  reason  it  was  also  im- 
possible that  the  angels   should  have   been   placed 
immediately  by  the  creation,  in  the  highest  and  most 
complete  stage  of  perfection  which  they  were  capa- 
ble of  reaching,  and  for  which  they  were  designed 
by  their  Creator,      ^ay,  rather,  they  were  to  reach 
that  advanced  goal,  through  their  own  strivings  and 
eltbrts,  through  the  employment  of  their  own  highest 
powers.     But  they  possessed  potentially  and  in  the 
germ,  that  high  heritage  to  which  they  were  to  attain. 
God  ever  and  always  gives  before  he  requires  again, 
and  his  demands  are  ever  measured  according  to  his 
gifts.     In  harmony  with  this  principle,  the  capacities 
with  which  he  endowed  the  angels,  were  fully  equal 
to  the  task  of  their  fulfilling  their  mission,  and  being 
true  to  their  original  destiny.     The  freedom  of  will 
by  which  they  were  to  decide  for  themselves,  and 
enter  upon  a  course  of  development  of  their  own 
choosing,  involved  also  the  poasihiUty  of  their  choos- 
ing contrary  to  the  will  of  God,  of  their  entering 
upon  a  course  of  development  other  than,  and  an- 
tagonistic to  that  which  had  been  originally  set  before 
them,  and  leading  to  wholly  different  results.     This 
was  the  possibility  of  their  revolting  from  their  high 
destin}^  of  their  rebelling  against  their  Creator  and 
Lord ;  and  it  was  involved  in  their  moral  freedom, 


CORPOREALITY    OF    THE    ANGELS.       193 

wliicli  was  at  first  of  a  merely  formal  character,  and 
not  possessed  of  those  characteristics  which  would  be 
attached  to  it,  so  soon  as  they  had  realized  a  condi- 
tion the  ofispring  of  their  own  choice. 

The  negative  phase  of  the  term  '' spiints,''  by  which 
the  angels  in  general  are  designated,  does  not  force 
us  to  deny  all  idea  of  body  ((T-rofjia)  in  connection  with 
the  angels,  for  there  are  also  spiritual  bodies ;  ^  but 
merely  the  idea  of  a  body  other  than  spiritual — a 
fleshy  body,  compounded  of  earthy  materials  (tf^^xa 
•sj/uxitov,  capl).  "It  excludes  " — to  use  the  words  of  an 
esteemed  divine^ — "it  excludes  all  idea  of  a  life  con- 
nected with  flesh  and  blood  derived  from  earthly  ma- 
terials, all  idea  of  a  form  of  life  holding  the  same 
confined  relations  to  place  and  space  as  does  our 
gross  organism,  all  idea  of  dependence  upon  condi- 
tions of  life  and  laws  of  movement  such  as  we  have 
to  do  with,  without  at  all  denying  that  the  angels 
have  proper  bodies,  and  an  outward  life  conformable 
to  the  nature  of  those  bodies.  For  the  Scriptures 
reveal  to  us  a  sphere  of  corporeal  life,  in  addition  to 
and  be3^ond  our  own  as  it  at  j^^'esent  subsists,  and 
wdiich,  just  as  our  present  life,  with  its  "  tabernacle 
of  clay,"  its  gross  earthy  character,  corresponds  to 
our  terrestrial  system,^  in  like  manner,  as  a  faithful 
transcript  of  the  celestial  systems,  is  adapted  to  the 
nature  of  a  pure  spirit  (-n-vsu/xa),  just  as,  further,  our 
present  body  is  adapted  to  the  nature  of  a  mere  4'^x'^* 

Angels  may  be  called  "-^rvtrf^aTa,"  pure  spirits,  but 

*  (ytOjuafa  Ttvevfiatixd,  1  Cor.  15  :  44. 

2  T.  Beck,  Christl.  Lehrwissenschaff,  I.,  176  seqq. 

3  1  Cor.  15  :  45  seqq. 

17  ' 


194  BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

not  oncn.  For  the  angels  possess  nothing  of  a  cha- 
racter other  than  spiritual :  their  corporeality  also  is 
of  a  spiritual  nature,  and  even  their  bodily  constitu- 
tion bespeaks  the  spirit.  The  corporeality  of  man, 
on  the  other  hand,  partakes  not  of  a  spiritual  but  of 
a  fleshly  character:  the  dualism  of  flesh  and  spirit 
has  not  yet  in  his  case  been  done  away  with,  by  his 
fleshly  body  having  been  glorified  and  transformed 
into  a  spiritual  body.  So  long  as  this  dualism  still 
remains,  man  cannot  be  called  a  pure  spirit,  a  spirit, 
without  any  qualification. 

The  Bible,  indeed,  does  not  expressly  treat  of  the 
corporeality  of  the  angels.  This  subject,  however, 
did  not  fall  within  the  sphere  of  its  objects  —  nor 
could  it.  But,  on  the  contrary,  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  the  Biblical  doctrine  of  the  angels  presupposes 
the  fact  of  their  having  corporeal  forms,  and  that  it 
furnishes  us  with  many  hints  from  which  inferences 
may  be  drawn  concerning  the  nature  and  the  con- 
stitution of  their  bodies. 

The  words  of  Christ  in  Matthew  22  :  30,  are  spe- 
cially clear  on  this  point.'  In  Matthew  it  is  said: 
"  For  in  the  resurrection  they  (men)  neither  marry, 
nor  are  given  in  marriage ;  but  are  as  the  angels  of 
God  in  heaven."  Luke  adds:  "iTeither  can  they 
die  any  more ;  for  they  are  equal  unto  the  angels ; 
and  are  the  children  of  God,  being  the  children  of  the 
resurrection.''  The  unprejudiced  reader  cannot  but 
believe  that  corporeality  is  here  indirectly  predicated 
of  the  angels,  who  in  one  respect  at  least,  are  analo- 
gous to  what  the   resurrection  bodies  of  our  race 

'  Compare  Luke  20  :  35,  36. 


CORPOREALITY    OF    THE    ANGELS.        195 

sliall  be  — devoid  of  the  characteristic  of  sex.'-     This 
is  a  bodily  characteristic,  and  exerts,  indeed,  during 
this  mortal  life,  much  influence   upon  the  phj^sical 
constitution  and  proportions.     But  when  the  body 
dies,  it  is  immediately  done  away  with.     It  is  not 
in  the  incorporeal  state,  however,  that  men  are  to  be 
like  angels.     They  shall  only  attain  that  high  honor, 
through  the  resurrection,  w^hen  they  shall  be  clothed 
in  new  and  glorified  bodies,  which  shall  indeed  pos- 
sess the  characteristics  of  corporeality,  but  not  those 
of  sexuality,  (somewhat  as  the  first  created  human 
being  was  neither  man  nor  woman  previous  to  the 
creation  of  Eve).     That  Christ  referred  only  to  a 
bodily  likeness,  when  he  spoke  of  that  high  honor 
which  is  to  be  conferred   on   the   children  of  the 
resurrection  —  of  being   as   the  angels  of  God  — is 
placed  in  the  strongest  and  most  unequivocal  light, 
by  the  closing  sentence,  "  because  they  are  the  chil- 
dren of  the  resurrection;"  for  the  resurrection  is  not 
to  be  concerned  in  a  changing  or  transformation  of 
the  spiritual  being,  but  merely  in  the  reformation  or 
renewal  of  the  body.     This  remarkable  and  weighty 
passage  is  of  still  more  significance  in  view  of  our 
design,  when  combined  with  the  Pauline  doctrine 
concerning  spiritual  bodies  {acoit^oLra.  ^vsufjLarjxa),  when 
speaking  of  the  resurrection.^    I^o  more  shall  the 
resurrection  body  possess  the  characteristic  of  sex, 
than  the  spirit  (pneuma),  to  which  it  is  to  be  eom- 

'  Compare  Meyer  on  Matt.  22  :  30 :  Besides  it  is  clear  from  thu 
passage,  where  the  resemblance  of  the  angels  to  the  future  resur- 
rection body  is  referred  to,  that  we  are  not  to  regard  the  angels 
as  pure  spirits,  but  as  possessing  extraraundane  bodies 

2  1  Cor.  15. 


196         BIBLICAL   THEORY   OF   THE   WORLD. 

2)letehj  coiiformed.  Hence  it  is  that  it  is  called  a 
spiritual  (pneumatic)  body.  It  must  be  assumed, 
tlierefore,  that  the  angels  possess  (however  difterent 
they  may  be  from  our  resurrection  bodies,  in  some 
respects)  real,  spiritual  {pneumatic)  bodies.  Thus  also 
have  we  obtained  a  proof  that  the  term  spirits  {'n'^svixara.), 
by  wdiich  the  angels  are  designated,  by  no  means 
excludes  the  idea  of  their  corporeal  nature.  It  merely 
excludes  the  idea  of  ?i  fleshly  body,  not  of  a  spiritual 
one  however. 

Supported  by  the  clear,  unequivocal  import  of 
these  w^ords  from  Matthew  and  Luke,  we  can 
scarcely  be  in  doubt  as  to  the  true  interpretation  of 
Paul,  in  1  Cor.  15  :  40.  No  one  Avill  dispute  with 
us  the  assumption  that  Paul  was  acquainted  with 
the  words  spoken  by  our  Lord,  and  that  they  may 
have  been  before  his  mind,  when  stating  the  doc- 
trine of  the  resurrection  at  such  length  and  so  clearly 
as  is  done  in  the  15th  chapter  of  1st  Corinthians. 

The  Apostle's  course  of  reasoning  in  the  place  in 
question,  is  as  follows :  The  Christian  doctrine  of  the 
resurrection  seems  to  involve  an  absurdity  (verse  35), 
which  must  be  explained.  This  the  Apostle  does, 
by  the  instance  of  a  grain  of  wheat  cast  into  the 
earth;  the  grain  itself  must  become  corrupt  and 
must  decay,  before  it  takes  on  a  new  and  more 
glorious  form,  in  the  plant  to  which  it  gives  rise 
(verses  36  :  37).  I^ext,  in  order  to  show  us  the 
resurrection  body  in  its  two  aspects — that  it  shall  be 
as  truly  a  hody  as  our  present  ones  are ;  but  that  it 
shall  be  a  body  of  another  kind  —  he  calls  our  atten- 
tion to  the  great  and  essential  differences  between 


CORPOREALITY    OF    THE    ANGELS.        197 

tlie  bodily  forms  to  be  met  with  throughout  crea- 
tion. He  first  mentions  (v.  39)  different  kinds  of 
the  terrestrial  body  (co^pl) :  such  as  the  flesh  of  men, 
tho,  flesh  of  beasts,  of  fish,  and  of  birds.  Thus  even 
upon  the  earth,  we  find  (amid  bodies  composed  of 
flesh),  those  possessed  of  the  most  varied  characte- 
ristics. But  still  more  broad  and  significant  are  the 
distinctions,  when  we  compare  these  terrestrial 
bodies  with  those  which  do  not  partake  of  a  fleshly 
nature  —  with  celestial  bodies.  ''There  are  also 
celestial  bodies,  and  bodies  terrestrial  {(JuixaTo.  iirovpdvtoL 
and  Biriyzia) ;  but  the  glory  of  the  celestial  is  one,  and 
the  glory  of  the  terrestrial  is  another"  (verse  40). 
As  the  terresti'ial  bodies  are  evidently  those  specified 
in  the  preceding  verse  —  the  bodies  of  men  and 
other  creatures  inhabiting  the  earth — we  naturally  and 
for  the  best  of  reasons,  refer  the  expression,  '''celestial 
bodies,"  to  the  inhabitants  of  heaven,  as  proving 
that  they  do  indeed  possess  corporeal  forms.  We 
are  forced  to  this  view,  however,  from  their  being 
designated  as  bodies  (as  c^ixaTa);  for  this  remarkable 
word,  ever  and  without  exception,  not  onlj^  in  the 
Kew  Testament,  but  throughout  all  the  Greek  classics, 
designates  only  organic  (living)  bodies,  but  never 
inorganic  (dead)  bodies,  that  is,  bodies  in  the  modern 
scientific  sense  of  the  term.  Consequently,  verse 
40  cannot  be  explained  by  the  succeeding  verse,  in 
which  the  Apostle,  passing  into  another  sphere  of 
the  analogy,  speaks  of  there  being  one  glory  of  the 
sun,  another  of  the  moon,  and  another  of  the  stars 
(but  does  not  call  these  bodies  "  (Tco^ara").  Nay 
rather,  it  must  be  explained  b}^  the  verse  which  pre- 
17* 


198         BIBLICAL   THEORY    OF   THE   WORLD. 

cedes  it,  and  in  the  manner  indicated  above.  And 
just  at  that  point,  as  we  believe,  the  words  of  our 
Lord  touching  our  future  bodily  likeness  to  the 
angels,  may  have  passed  through  the  mind  of  the 
Apostle. 

We  may  think  strange  of  but  one  point,  if  the 
above  be  the  true  interpretation  of  the  Apostle's 
words ;  and  that  is  this,  that  he  did  not  distinctly  and 
plainly  say,  angelic  bodies,  instead  of  "celestial 
bodies,"  as  that  would  have  excluded  all  possibility 
of  mistaking  his  meaning.  But  that  expression 
would  not  have  been  comprehensive  enough  for  the 
Apostle's  design.  Heaven  contains  other  bodies 
than  merely  those  of  the  angels.  In  verses  45-49, 
Christ  is  called  "the  heavenly"  (scroupavtoc:) ;  Ms  body 
is  both  a  " spiritual"  and  a  "celestial  body;"  and 
this  body  of  our  Lord,  the  direct  type  of  our  resur- 
rection bodies,  is  doubtless  comprehended  within 
the  scope  of  the  40th  verse. ^ 

'  I  must  confess  that  Hofmann^s  opposition  to  my  view  (Schrift- 
"beweis,  I.,  353)  caused  me  to  hold  it  with  less  assurance  for  a 
while.  But,  after  renewed  examination,  I  have  again  become 
convinced  of  its  correctness,  and  find  myself  forced  to  reject  Hof- 
mann's  interpretation  of  the  phrase,  "  celestial  bodies,''  in  the 
40th  verse,  by  referring  it  to  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  of  the  suc- 
ceeding, or  41st  verse.  The  term  "  crw^ua-r'a,"  to  my  mind,  is  now 
as  strong  and  decisive  as  ever  in  favor  of  my  view.  Hofmann 
asserts,  indeed,  that  a^fxa  does  not  hy  any  means  designate  an 
organic  body,  but  is  antithetically  opposed  to  rtv^vfia.  The  proof, 
which  I  hold  to  be  impossible,  rests  with  him.  That  awjua  is  not 
so  opposed  to  Ttvivfxa,  is  evident  from  the  expression  "  ow^ua  Tiv^vixa 
■tixov,"  which  would  otherwise  involve  a  "  contradictio  in  adjecto.'' 
(2cip|  and  Ttv^vixa  are  directly  opposed  to  each  other,  and  a  oap| 
Tivev/xatlxri  would  be  simply  a  contradiction  in  terms).     Meyer 


CORPOREALITY    OF    THE    ANGELS.        199 

If  this  interpretation  be  received  as  the  correct 
one,  we  may  find  in  the  same  chapter,  a  hint  respect- 
ing the  constitution  of  the  bodies  of  the  angels. 
The  bodies  of  men  and  beasts  form  the  same  con- 
trast in  connection  with  the  bodies  of  the  ansrels,  as 
that  which  obtains  between  heaven  and  earth.  It  is 
certainly  a  natural  inference  to  regard  the  bodies  of 
angels  as  compounded  of  celestial  material,  just  as 
the  bodies  of  men  partake  of  the  nature  and  cha- 
racter of  earthly  matter  (to  which  the  Apostle  in 
verse  47  expressly  refers) ;  for  the  former  are  called 
"celestial  bodies"  in  the  very  same  sense  as  the 
latter  are  called  "terrestrial  bodies."  And  as,  ac- 
cording to  the  teachings  of  Scripture,  a  higher  de- 
gree of  purity  and  perfection  of  matter,  of  splendor 

very  correctly  remarks  upon  this  passage:  "Were  we,  in  har- 
mony with  the  prevailing  view,  to  understand  the  Apostle  to  mean 
the  celestial  bodies  [ivorlds],  we  must  attribute  to  him  either  our 
modern  scientific  mode  of  speech,  or  the  view  that  the  stars  are 
living  beings."  {Hofmann  himself  (p.  352)  opposes  any  such 
idea  as  the  latter,  and  not  without  reason).  No  Grecian  philoso- 
pher, to  say  nothing  of  the  Apostle,  who  adhered  to  the  ordinary 
modes  of  speech,  would  have  called  the  celestial  spheres  "cui/xata." 
The  modern  scientific  term  "  bodies''  was  wholly  unknown  to  the 
ancient  Greeks  and  Latins.  The  fact  that  the  term  "  (jw^a"  is 
applied  in  the  case  of  plants,  in  the  37th  verse,  proves  nothing, 
for  plants  are  also  organic  bodies.  I  still  contend  that  the 
"  ctofxa-ta  eTtsiysta"  are  the  bodies  of  the  inlLobitants  of  the  earth, 
(v.  39:  men,  beasts,  fish,  birds).  The  plants,  although  they  are 
called  oiofiata  in  the  37th  verse,  do  not  any  longer  come  into  con- 
sideration. The  Apostle  mentions  two  departments  of  terrestrial 
CMfxdta,  V.  37th  :  plants,  which  are  cfw^a,  but  not  (japf ,  and  v.  39, 
40:  men  and  beasts,  which  are  both  a^^/xa  and  aapl.  The  transi- 
tion to  a  new  department,  in  the  aJi^iata  irtiyeia,  caused  him  to 
drop  the  plants. 


200         BIBLICAL   THEORY    OF   THE   WORLD. 

and  of  gioiy,  must  be  attributed  to  heaven,  than  to 
the  earth  in  its  present  condition';  so  also  must  we 
regard  the  "celestial"  bodies  of  angels,  as  possessing 
a  more  refined,  ethereal  and  glorious  character, 
than  the  "  terrestrial"  bodies  of  men.^  The  power 
of  the  angels,  moreover,  as  referred  to  in  2d  Pet. 
2  :  11,  and  which  doubtless  is  manifested  in  connec- 
tion with  a  corresponding  physical  or  corporeal  con- 
stitution, is  represented  as  by  far  more  mighty  and 
influential  than  that  of  men. 

Were  Luther's  translation  of  Psalm  104,  4  ("He 
maketh  his  angels  winds,  and  his  ministers  flames 
of  fire")  unqualifiedly  correct,  we  might  infer  from 
this  comparison  of  the  angels  to  the  winds  and  to 
lightning,  that  the  bodies  of  angels  possess  all  the 
qualities  of  lightness  and  velocit}^  of  movement,  all 
that  pervading  energy  and  wondrous  manifestation 
of  power,  which  characterize  these  forces  of  nature. 
The  translation  is  grammatically  correct;  but  it 
seems  more  in  harmony  with  the  connection  and 
the  sequence  of  thought  contained  in  the  Psalm,  to 
translate:  "He  maketh  the  winds  his  angels  (or 
messengers),  and  the  fiery  flames  his  ministers." 
According  to  this  rendering,  the  Psalmist  is  not 
speaking  primarily  of  the  angels  at  all ;  but  of  the 
winds  and  flames  of  fire.     Still,  however,  the  angels 

'  The  remarks  of  J.  P.  Lange  (in  his  fine  treatise :  Die  Lehre 
von  (lev  Auferstehung  des  Fleishes,  in  vol.  2,  and  of  his  Vennisch. 
ScJir.),  concerning  the  law  of  the  embodiment  of  all  finite  beings 
from  the  material  of  the/j^rtce  where  they  dwell,  and  according  to 
the  stale  of  their  moral  being,  may  serve  to  set  this  matter  in  a 
clearer  light. 


CORPOREALITY    OF    THE    ANGELS.        201 

who  are  properly, the  ministers  and  messengers  of 
God,  as  the  winds  and  the  lightning  are  less  properly 
called  hy  Luther  —  the  angels,  we  say,  are  placed  in 
such  relation  to  these  forces  of  nature,  hy  this  second 
rendering  even,  as  can  only  be  explained  hy  grant- 
ing that  there  does  exist  a  resemblance  between 
them,  as  to  their  outward  appearance,  and  the  mani- 
festations of  power  they  effect  through  the  medium 
of  their  physical  constitution.  And  when  we  ob- 
serve, on  the  other  hand,  that  the  author  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  has  appropriated  to  his 
purpose^  this  verse  of  the  104th  Psahii,  giving  it  the 
same  sense  as  Luther  does  —  a  rendering  admissible 
both  as  to  matter  and  form  (though  not  in  accord- 
ance with  the  special  connection  in  which  it  stands 
in  the  original)  —  when  we  observe  this,  and  re- 
member that  the  Apostle  thereby  sanctions,  if  not 
the  translation  itself,  at  least  the  thought  it  contains, 
we  are  warranted  from  this  point  of  view  also,  in  hold- 
ing fast  to  the  points  of  resemblance  before  indicated.^ 

»  Ileb.  1  :  7. 

2  In  connection  with  the  semblance  of  the  bodies  of  these  beings 
io  Jire,  we  may  be  permitted  to  quote  from  Beck's  Christl.  Lehr- 
loissenschafi,  a  beautiful  passage,  due  to  the  celebrated  Boerhaave, 
elem.  chem.  I.  p.  126 :  Si  mirabilis  est  ignis,  in  eo  sane  praeci- 
puum  admirabilitatis  constituendura  videtur,  quod  subtilitate  in- 
comprehensibili  ita  indagineum  eludat,  ut  et  ab  aliis  pro  spiritu 
verius  quam  pro  corpore  sit  agnitus.  Ipsa  ignis  elementa  ubique, 
et  in  corpore  solidissimo  auri  et  in  vacuo  maxime  inani  Toricelli- 
ano  habitant,  omniaque  corpora  et  spatia  aequali  distributione  et 
insinuatione  obtinent.  As  to  the  loind,  in  the  same  connection, 
the  Avords  of  Christ,  in  John  3d  :  8th,  are  significant :  "  The  wind 
bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the  sound  thereof,  but 
canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh,  or  whither  it  goeth." 


202         BIBLICAL    THEORY   OF   THE   WORLD. 

The  mode,  also,  in  which  angels  have  ever  ap- 
peared upon  earth,  is  in  harmony  with  this  view. 
Thus,  Matthew  says  of  the  angel  which  appeared  to 
the  women  at  the  tomb  of  our  Savior:  "His  counte- 
nance was  like  lightning,  and  his  raiment  white  as 
snow."  These  words  describe,  not  the  likeness  to 
the  human  form,  assumed  but  for  the  moment  as  it 
were,  but  rather,  that  in  the  appearance  which  was 
of  a  superhuman,  of  a  specially  angelic  character; 
not  what  was  involved  in  a  transient  appearance, 
such  as  the  angel  then  assumed,  but  that  which  was 
a  characteristic  of,  and  essentially  pertained  to  his 
own  proper  being.  The  dazzling  splendor  of  his 
raiment  must  certainly  be  regarded  as  having  been 
the  effect  of  the  light  proceeding  from  the  bright 
and  glorious  body  of  the  angel  himself,  —  this  being 
in  accordance  with  the  analogy  of  what  appeared  at 
the  transfiguration  of  Christ.^  When  we  keep  in 
mind,  in  addition  to  the  above,  the  suddenness  with 
which  angels  have  almost  always  appeared,  and  also 
vanished  (ascended),  we  shall  perceive  that  the 
marked  peculiarities  of  their  bodies,  in  contrast  with 
those  of  men  as  at  present  constituted,  are  these  — 
that  they  are  possessed  of  a  more  pure  and  refined 
nature,  more  resemble  light  in  appearance  and 
rapidity  of  movement,  and  are  endowed  with  powers 
made  adequate  to  the  duties  and  exigencies  of  high, 
immortal,  spiritual  life. 

It  is  either  so  expressly  stated,  or  silently  assumed 
as  a  fact,  in  all  the  Scriptural  accounts  w^e  have  of 
the  appearance  of  angels,  that  they  appeared  upon 

1  Matt.  17:2:  Mark  9  :  3. 


CORPOREALITY    OF    THE    ANGELS.        203 

earth  in  liiiman  form,  or  at  least,  in  one  very  similar 
to  it  —  hence  it  was  that  their  heavenly  nature  and 
origin  was  so  frequently  not  at  first  perceived.  But 
this  circumstance  is  far  from  justifying  us  in  the 
immediate  inference  that  their  form  is  properly  and 
necessarily  one  similar  to  the  human.  Kay  rather, 
it  is  not  only  conceivable,  but  even  more  than  pro- 
bable, that  they  for  the  time  only  assumed  the 
human  form,  in  order  that  they  might  conveniently 
and  effectually  hold  intercourse  Avith  men.  But  this 
inference  may  legitimately  be  drawn  from  the  cir- 
cumstance mentioned :  that  the  bodies  of  the  angels 
are  not  so  crude  and  inflexible  as  ours,  nor  are  they 
so  well-defined  and  fixed  in  their  outline,  but  rather 
possessed  of  a  high  degree  of  fluidity  and  mobility 
—that  they  do  not  oppose  to  the  wishes  of  the  eager 
spirit,  the  clumsiness  and  inertia  of  human  bodies ; 
but  are  rather  the  willing  instruments  of  the  spirit, 
subordinate  to  all  its  wishes,  and  completely  ade- 
quate to  all  the  wants  and  exigencies  of  spiritual  life. 
iN'othing  of  a  more  definite  character  touching  the 
corporeal  forms  of  the  angels,  and  of  their  similarity 
or  dissimilarity  to  the  human  form,  can  be  gathered, 
either  by  proof  or  -inference,  from  sources  within 
our  reach. 

We  have  already  shown  that  the  Bible,  so  far  from 
forbidding  the  assumption  that  the  angels  are  pos- 
sessed of  corporeal  forms  conformable  to  the  mode 
of  their  being,  really  demands  such  an  assumption, 
and  itself  takes  its  validity  for  granted.  But,  apart 
from  the  positive  teachings  of  the  Scriptures  them- 
selves, the  idea  of  an  absolutely  incorporeal  beino- 


204         BIBLICAL    THEORY   OF   THE   WOULD. 

is  altogether  iiTecoiicilal)le  with  the  idea  of  a  finite 
creature.  But  surel}^  no  one  would  presume  to  dis- 
pute that  the  angels  are  mere  finite  creatures. 

"Leiblichkeit  ist  das  Ende  der  Wege  Gottes."  A 
creature  without  any  bodily  form  is  wdiolly  incon- 
ceivable, since  that  which  is  created,  as  the  created, 
can  only  work  and  subsist  within  the  limits  of  time 
and  space,  and  since  corporeality  alone  confines  the 
creature  to  time  and  space. ^  God  alone  is  an  infinite, 


'  [We  here  introduce  some  interesting  remarks  by  Isaac  Taylor, 
which  will  be  found  to  coincide  very  closely  with  those  of  the 
author.  He  says :  "  We  must  affirm  that  Body  is  the  necessary 
means  of  bringing  Mind  into  relationship  with  space  and  exten- 
sion, and  so,  of  giving  it  —  Place.  Very  plainly,  a  disembodied 
spirit,  or  we  ought  rather  to  say,  an  unembodied  spirit,  or  sheer 
mind,  is  nowhere.  Place  is  a  relation  of  extension;  and  exten- 
sion is  a  property  of  matter:  but  that  which  is  wholly  abstracted 
from  matter,  and  in  speaking  of  which  we  deny  that  it  has 
any  property  in  common  therewith,  can  in  itself  be  subject 
to  none  of  its  conditions ;  and  we  might  as  well  say  of  a  pure 
spirit  that  it  is  hard,  heavy,  or  red,  or  that  it  is  a  cubic  foot 
in  dimensions,  as  say  that  it  is  here  or  there,  or  that  it  has 
come,  and  is  gone.  It  is  only  in  a  popular  and  improper  sense 
that  any  such  affirmation  is  made  of  the  Infinite  Spirit,  or  that 
we  speak  of  God  as  everyivhere  present.  God  is  in  every  place 
in  a  sense  altogether  incomprehensible  by  finite  minds,  inas- 
much as  his  relation  to  space  and  extension  is  peculiar  to 
infinitude.  Using  the  terms  as  we  use  them  of  ourselves, 
God  is  not  here  or  there,  any  more  than  he  exists  now  and 
then.  Although,  therefore,  the  idea  may  not  readily  be  seized 
by  every  one,  we  must  nevertheless  grant  it  to  be  true  that, 
when  we  talk  of  absolute  immateriality,  and  w^ish  to  with- 
draw mind  altogether  from  matter,  we  must  no  longer  allow 
ourselves  to  imagine  that  it  is,  or  that  it  can  be,  in  any  place, 
or  that  it  has  any  kind  of  relationship  to  the  visible  and 
extended  universe.      But  in  combining  itself  with  matter,  by 


CORPOREALITY    OF   THE   ANGELS.  205 

an  absolute  Spirit;  He  only  exists  above  and  be3'orid 
time  and  space.  A  created  spirit  without  a  cor- 
poreal form  to  confine  it  to  time  and  space,  to  bound 
its  being,  and  give  it  a  species  of  form,  must  either 

means  of  a  corporeal  lodgment,  mind  brings  itself  into  alliance 
with  the  various  properties  of  the  external  world,  and  takes  a 
share  in  the  conditions  of  solidity  and  extension.  Thence- 
forward mind  occupies  one  place,  at  one  time,  moves  from 
place  to  place,  and  may  follow  other  minds,  and  be  followed 
by  others;  it  may  find  and  be  found;  it  may  be  detained,  or 
be  set  at  large;  it  it  may  go  to  and  fro  within  a  narrow 
circle ;  or  it  may  traverse  a  wide  circle ;  and  while,  by  this 
same  means  the  material  universe  is  opened  to  its  acquaint- 
ance, it  is  also  itself  restricted  in  its  opportunities  of  acquir- 
ing knowledge,  by  its  subjection  to  the  laws  of  gravitation  and 
motion  :  we  may  then  with  some  degree  of  confidence,  on  these 
grounds,  regard  a  corporeal  state  as  indispensable  to  the  ex- 
ercise of  active  faculties,  and  to  a  scheme  of  government,  and 
to  a  social  economy.  That  which  is  finite  —  a  finite  mind,  for 
example  —  must,  as  we  are  inclined  to  think,  become  subject 
to  some  actual  limitations,  and  must  undergo  some  specific  rela- 
tions, before  its  faculties  can  come  into  play,  or  be  productive 

of  efi'ects There  is  reason  to  conjecture  (perhaps 

stronger  terms  might  be  used)  that  none  but  the  Infinite 
Spirit  can  be  more  than  a  latent  essence,  or  inert  power, 
until  compacted  by  some  sort  of  restraint.  The  union  with 
matter,  or  the  coming  into  a  corporeal  state,  may  be,  in  fact,  not 
a  degradation  of  the  mind,  but  the  very  means  of  its  quickening 
—  its  birth  into  the  world  of  knowledge  and  action.  The  first 
consequence  of  this  birth  is,  as  we  have  said,  the  acquirement 
of  locality  in  the  extended  universe.  .  .  The  corporeal  alli- 
ance of  mind  and  matter  is,  in  the  present  state,  and  as  we  may 
strongly  conjecture  it  will  be,  the  means  of  so  defining  our  indi- 
viduality in  relation  to  others,  as  is  necessary  for  bringing  minds 
under  the  condition  of  a  social  economy.  The  purposes  of  such 
a  system  demand  the  seclusion  or  the  isolation  of  each  spirit,  or 
its  impenetrability  by  other  spirits.  .  .  Perhaps  unembodied 
18 


206         BIBLICAL   THEORY   OP   THE   WORLD. 

be  like  God,  infinite,  omnipresent,  and  eternal — be 
God  himself;  or,  since  that  would  be  irreconcilable 
with  the  idea  of  its  having  been  created,  be  dissi- 
pated into  nothing  and  utterly  lost.  Hence,  within 
the  province  of  created  life,  the  possession  of  a  body 
is  the  condition  of  all  existence ;  the  corporeal  struc- 
ture is  the  instrument  of  all  activity  of  the  spirit ; 
it  constitutes  a  tenement  for  it,  gives  it  a  lodgment, 
and  thus  enables  it  to  preserve  its  legitimate  boun- 
daries and  its  identity,  —  without  a  body,  without  a 
fixed  abode,  the  homeless  spirit  would  be  carried 
everywhither  and  dissolved  into  nothing,  be  utterly 
lost.  Corporeality  places  a  limit  or  a  check  to  the 
life  and  activity  of  the  created  spirit,  and  thus  pre- 
vents them  from  being  infinite,  eternal,  and  omni- 
present, like  the  same  qualities  in  the  Divine  Being. 
But  corporeality  is  also  a  blessing  and  a  heneficent  grant 
to  the  creature,  since  it  is  through  the  body  alone 

spirits  (if  there  be  such)  may  lie  open  to  inspection,  or  may  be 
liable  to  invasion,  like  an  unfenced  field,  or  a  plot  of  common 
land.  But  although  such  a  state  of  exposure  might  involve  no 
harm  to  beings  either  absolutely  good,  or  absolutely  evil,  ^ve  can- 
not imagine  it  to  consist  with  the  safety  or  dignity  of  beings  like 
man.  .  .  There  is  some  reason  to  question  whether  sheer 
spirits  could  (except  by  immediate  acts  of  divine  power)  be  indi- 
vidually dealt  with,  and  governed,  or  could  be  known  and  em- 
ployed, or  could  be  followed  and  detained,  or  could  form  lasting 
associations,  and  be  moulded  into  hierarchies  and  polities,  or 
could  sustain  office,  and  yield  obedience,  in  any  certain  manner, 
if  at  all.  At  least  it  is  true  that  all  these  functions  aad  social 
ends  are  now  in  fact  dependent  upon  corporeity ;  and  it  is  only 
fair  to  assume  that  they  demand  a  bodily  structure  in  every 
case  where  minds  are  to  live  and  act  in  concert  with  others."  — 
Physical  Theory  of  another  Life,  pp.  25,  26,  38,  39.  —  Tr.] 


COHPO REALITY  OF  THE  ANGELS.     20T 

that  it  derives  the  power,  the  capacity  and  the  means, 
for  the  exercise  of  its  freedom  and  the  pleasure  of  its 
will,  for  the  most  complete  realization  of  its  life. 
However  spiritual  and  heavenly  a  nature,  therefore, 
we  attribute  to  the  angels,  however  w^e  exalt  them  in 
imagination  be^^ond  all  connection  w^itli  such  a  bur- 
densome corporeal  constitution  as  ours,  beyond  the 
restraints  and  laws  of  our  base  "tabernacle  of  clay," 
still  they  are  but  creatures,  and  must  ever  so  remain — 
they  too  must  pay  the  tribute  of  corporeality,  be  their 
bodies  ever  so  ethereal,  pure,  and  glorious,  and  how- 
ever much  they  elude  the  grasp  of  our  senses. 

§  19.  Nature,  Position,  and  3Ilssion  of  the  Angels. 

Another  point  highly  significant,  and  pregnant 
with  the  most  important  consequences  in  connection 
^vith  the  position  and  the  whole  history  of  the  an- 
gels, is  this:  that  they  were  created  without  sex. 
Christ  himself  taught  this  in  express  terms  as  a  cha- 
racteristic peculiarity  of  the  angels,  w^hen  in  reference 
to  the  glorified  bodies  of  men  at  the  resurrection  he 
said :  "7?^  the  resurrection  they  neither  marry  nor  are 
given  in  marriage,  hut  are  as  the  angels  of  Crod  in 
heave7i."  '  The  extraordinary  and  far-reaching  con- 
sequences of  this  constitutional  quality  or  peculiarity, 
can  be  fulty  understood,  only  after  we  have  taken  a 
careful  and  comprehensive  view  of  the  whole  matter. 
As  a  first  consequence,  it  was  absolutely  necessary 
that  the  number  of  the  angels  should  ever  remain 
just  such  as  God  constituted  it  —  the  number  could 
neither  be  increased  nor  diminished  in  any  other  way 

'  Matt.  22  :  30. 


208  BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WOULD. 

than  by  a  direct  act  on  the  part  of  God,  —  and  that 
so  significant  a  provision  as  obtains  npon  earth,  and 
one  which  conditions  and  moulds  all  human  history, 
namely,  that  man  was  to  unfold  himself  through  the 
institution  of  marriage  from  his  original  unity  into 
a  great  multitude,  should  never  obtain  in  the  angelic 
world.  A  further  consequence  was,  that  the  bond 
which  connects  the  single  individual  to  the  whole 
species,  could  not,  as  in  the  case  of  man,  be  a  bond 
of  succession^  sustained  by  the  unity  of  derivation, 
but  merely  one  of  simultaniety^  conditioned  and  pre- 
served by  their  all  having  the  same  Creator,  a  com- 
munity of  nature,  of  objects  to  be  gained,  and  of 
destinies  to  be  fulfilled.  So  far  as  their  self-deter- 
mination and  the  history  flowing  from  it  were  con- 
cerned, this  provision  was  specially  and  peculiarly 
important,  since  it  rendered  the  choice  of  one  part 
of  the  species,  or  of  one  individual,  independent  of 
the  choice  of  all  the  rest,  so  that  the  fall  of  one  could 
not  carry  with  it  the  ruin  of  the  whole  species. 

As  to  the  7iumher  of  the  angels,  we  can  gather  no- 
thing definite  from  the  Scriptures;  it  is  represented 
as  indeterminable,  far  out-reaching  all  attempts  at 
computation.  The  Scriptures  when  referring  to  it, 
groan  under  the  burden  of  their  utterances,  since  no 
human  numbers  are  adequate  to  the  task  of  compu- 
tation. Daniel  beheld  in  vision  the  judgment  throne 
of  the  Lord.  His  angels,  the  attendants  of  his 
majesty,  stood  round  this  glorious  throne.  '^A 
thousand  thousands  ministered  unto  him,  and  ten 
thousand  times  ten  thousands  stood  before  him."  ^ 

'  Daniel  7  :  10. 


POSITION    OF    THE    ANGELS.  209 

The  Apostle  John,  in  the  l^ew  Testament,  makes  use 
of  the  same  laboring  expressions,^  and  a  like  swel- 
ling fulness  of  terms  may  be  found  all  through  the 
Scriptures,  when  speaking  of  these  beings  collec- 
tively.^ 

There  obtain  in  the  angelic  w^orld,  according  to 
more  or  less  clear  intiniations  of  Scripture,  various 
grades  of  position,  of  dignity,  of  might,  of  callings 
and  of  destiny.  There  are  angels  and  archangels^ 
cherubims,*  and  seraphim s,"^'^  which  are  further  dis- 
tinguished by  the  terms  thrones,  dominions,  princi- 
palities, powers,  authorities,  &c.'^ 

Doubtless  all  the  special  terms  by  which  the  dif- 
ferent orders  of  the  angels  are  designated,  denote 
corresponding  specific  differences  in  the  nature,  being, 
position,  and  duties  of  these  heavenly  beings.  But 
all  farther  insight  into  the  nature  of  these  differences 
is  forbidden  us,  since  all  the  angels,  so  far  as  their 
relation  to  man  is  concerned,  form  one  vast  and  gene- 
ral class  of  heavenly  beings,  between  whom  and  the 

'  Rev.  5  :  11. 

2  See  Gen.  32  :  1,  2 ;  Ps.  68  :  18 ;  Luke  2  :  13  ;  Matt.  26  :  53. 

3  1  Thess.  4  :  16 ;  Jude  9. 

<Gen.  3  :  24;  Ps.  18  :  11 ;  80  :  2 ;  Ezek.  1  :  10 ;  Rev.  4. 

^  In  regard  to  the  seraphims,  I  agree  with  Hofmann  (Schrifthew. 
I.  328).  But  none  the  less  do  I  deviate  from  his  view  in  regard 
to  the  chenibims.  Compare  my  Gescli.  des  alien  Bundes,  vol.  I. 
2d  ed.,  I  22,  3,  where  I  have  developed  at  length  my  views 
touching  the  nature  and  position  of  the  cherubims.  and  their  re- 
lation to  the  history  of  redemption,  as  derived  from  a  full  exami- 
nation of  the  sacred  Scriptures  on  this  point. 

«  Isaiah  6  :  2. 

'  Col.  1  :  16 ;  Eph.  1 :  .21 ;  3  :  10 ;  1  Pet.  3  :  22. 
18* 


210        BIBLICAL     THEORY    OF     THE    WOULD. 

inhabitants  of  this  earth,  there  exists  a  wide,  general, 
and  universal  diiference.  We  are  permitted  to  catch 
a  glimpse  of  the  manifold  varieties  of  these  mysteri- 
ous beings,  only  in  order  that  the  glory  of  God  may 
be  to  some  extent  apprehended  by  our  slow  and 
grovelling  minds — that  glory  which  ever  displays 
itself  in  the  most  varied  manifestations  of  life,  and 
powers  of  production  and  adaptation ;  but  never  in 
monotonous  sameness,  in  mere  repetition  or  mechani- 
cal imitation  of  previous  creations — that  glory,  too, 
wdiich  in  the  midst  of  all  this  infinite  variety,  pre- 
sides with  majestic  ease,  comprehending  the  whole 
within  the  scope  of  one  grand  idea,  conceived  in  the 
remote  counsels  of  eternity.  'Nov  is  it  alone  with  re- 
spect to  man,  that  the  angels  may  all  be  classed  to- 
gether, as  one  vast  and  general  assemblage  of  hea- 
venly beings,  but  also  in  their  relation  to  God;  since, 
so  far  as  this  is  made  known  to  us  by  revelation,  w^e 
see  behind  all  the  differences  that  may  really  exist  in 
other  respects,  one  common  vocation,  one  general 
sj^here  of  offices  or  duties  assigned  to  all  orders  of 
these  heavenly  inhabitants.  They  all  alike  belong 
to  and  help  to  form  the  heavenly  host,^  they  are  all 
the  ministers  who  stand  round  about  the  throne  of 
God,  who  execute  his  commands,  who  are  the  organs 
of  Divine  power  and  rule  in  the  visible  Avorld;  and 
they  all  together  constitute  the  vast  and  jubilant 
choir,  wdiich  resounds  its  heavenly  anthems  to  the 
praise  of  the  majesty  and  glory,  the  wondrous  w^orks 
and  ways  of  God.  ISTot  as  though  God  had  need  of 
their  praise,  or  had  created  them  merely  on  his  own 

»  Gen.  32 :  1  seqq. ;  1  Kings  22 :  19  ;  Dan.  4  :  10-14 ;  Luke  4 :  10. 


THE    FALL    IN    THE    ANGELIC    WORLD.      211 

account — nay  rather,  he  created  them,  constituted 
them  the  ministers  of  his  will,  set  them  round  about 
his  glorious  throne,  and  opened  to  them  the  ravishing 
visions  of  his  majestj^  and  glory,  that  they  might  find 
for  themselves,  in  a  voluntary  service  and  obedience, 
adoration  and  praise,  an  infinite  and  inexhaustible 
source  and  fulness  of  delight  and  blessedness. 

§  20.   The  Fall  in  the  Angelic  World, 

It  was  necessary  that  the  angelic  world,  also,  no 
less  than  our  human  world,  should  experience  a  his- 
tory, should  be  concerned  in  a  progress  from  a  begin- 
ning to  an  end,  in  a  development — be  it  a  develop- 
ment in  accordance  with  or  contrary  to  the  will  of 
God  — of  those  powers  and  capacities  bestowed  upon 
it  at  its  creation.  And  it  was  also  necessary  that  the 
history  of  the  angelic  world  should  begin  as  the  his- 
tory of  our  world — with  the  realization  of  a  state  of 
freedom  —  with  the  trial  of  the  allegiance  or  self- 
determination  of  the  angels  themselves.  It  w^as 
necessar}'  that  they  should,  in  the  capacity  of  free 
personal  beings,  decide  either  in  accordance  w^ith  or 
contrary  to  the  Divine  appointment  with  respect  to 
them.  [N'either  was  it  possible  that  they  should  have 
been  advanced,  immediately  at  their  creation,  to  the 
highest  possible  point  or  degree  of  perfection  of  which 
they  were  capahle,  so  that  no  further  development 
could  have  taken  place ;  nor  was  any  constraint  al- 
lowable on  the  part  of  God,  either  at  the  commence- 
ment or  during  the  progress  of  the  development, 
which  could  in  the  least  remove  or  limit  their  free- 
dom, so  as  to  compel  them  to  be  true  to  their  destiny 


212         BIBLICAL   THEORY   OF   THE   WOULD. 

— to  choose  that  course  of  development  which  God 
had  set  before  them. 

The  trial  of  their  self-determination  was  condi- 
tioned by  their  position  and  duties  as  the  creatures  of 
God.  Thus  was  it  to  be  proven  whether  they  would 
ever  seek  their  greatest,  their  final  happiness,  in  the 
service  of  God,  and  in  unreserved  obedience  to  all  his 
commands ;  in  beholding  and  celebrating  his  glary^ 
in  reposing  beneath  its  effulgent  beams  ;  or  whether 
the}^  would  rather  choose  to  seek  their  happiness  — 
but  find  perdition — in  rebellion  against  God,  in 
inveterate  opposition  to  the  Divine  purpose — wdiether 
the}^  w^ould  rather  yield  obedience  to  the  will  of  God, 
and  have  his  favor^  or  desire  to  be  as  God,  and  lose 
all  fellowship  with  him. 

The  angels  did  not  all  maintain  their  allegiance 
throu2:hout  their  trial.  Part  of  them  misused  their 
freedom,  and  took  occasion  by  it  to  rebel  against  the 
will  and  purpose  of  God.  The  whole  godless  move- 
ment took  its  rise  in  the  daring  mind  of  one  of  them, 
wdio  was  naturally  endowed  with  pre-eminent  quali- 
ties, and  who  originally  occupied  a  high  and  dis- 
tinguished position  in  the  angelic  world ;  but  many 
others  permitted  themselves  to  be  drawn  away  with 
him  into  the  same  daring  rebellion  and  hopeless  fall. 
The  natural  pre-eminence  of  this  leader,  arising  from 
his  constitution  and  the  might  of  his  will,  still  sub- 
sists, even  since  the  fall,  so  that  the  whole  revolted 
host  form  under  him,  as  their  chief,  a  regularly 
organized  kingdom  of  darkness. 

We  may  observe  throughout  the  whole  Scriptures 
a  distinction  respecting  the  fallen  angels — a  distinc- 


THE    FALL    IN    THE    ANGELIC    WORLD.       213 

tion  between  the  great  (einlieitliclien)  Prince  of 
darkness,  and  a  multitude  of  subordinate,  but  fallen 
angels.  This  by  no  means  unimportant  distinction 
is,  we  are  sorry  to  say,  wholly  unobservable  in 
Luther's  translation  of  the  Bible.  The  orio-inul 
language  of  Scripture  does  not  speak  of  devils,  in 
the  plural,  at  all ;  it  never  speaks  of  but  one  devil,  or 
Satan,  of  but  one  prince  of  darkness ;  but  it  does, 
indeed,  frequently  speak  of  demons,  of  many  demons 
(a  word  which  Luther  nevertheless  ever  renders 
devil,  to  the  obliteration  of  all  distinction  between 
the  two  classes.) 

The  fact  that  the  whole  rebellion  took  its  rise  in 
the  mind  of  that  daring  leader,  and  further,  that  he 
occupied,  previous  to  the  fall,  some  superior  position 
in  heaven,  lies  concealed  in  this  wxll-marked  distinc- 
tion between  the  devil  and  demons  in  general,  and 
is  no  less  clearly  revealed  in  the  ascendenc}^  which 
he,  the  Prince  of  darkness,  is  ever  represented  as 
maintaining  over  those  (who  are  now  no  longer  the 
angels  of  G-od,  but  the  angels  of  the  JDevil  ^)  who  fell 
with  him,  as  though  they  were  his  ministers  and 
subjects.  Matt.  12  :  24-26  teaches  expressly  that 
they  all  together,  since  their  fall,  constitute  a  well- 
organized  and  concentrated  hellish  force,  under  the 
leadership  of  Satan. 

The  Scriptures  2  say  nothing  as  to  the  reasons  and 
occasions  of  the  flxll  of  these  beings,  nothing  as  to 


•  Matt.  25  :  41. 

2  Nor  does  the  apocryphal  passago,  "Wisdom  2  :  24,  treat  of  it, 
as  J.  P.  Lange  assumes  (Dogmat.  p.  568).  It  says  :  "  Death  came 
into  the  world  through  the  envy  of  the  devil.''     It  reveals  the 


214       BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

tlie  manner  in  which  it  occurred,  or  as  to  the  means 
able  to  bring  it  about — nothing  as  to  the  outward 
object  with  which  it  may  have  been  connected.  Most 
probably  we  could  not  have  understood  the  affair, 
had  an  account  of  it  been  given,  since  we  are  so 
wanting  in  all  definite  information  touching  the 
modes  of  angelic  life,  the  secret  nature  of  these 
beings,  and  the  peculiarities  of  their  condition  and 
circumstances.  Hence,  perhaps,  the  silence  of  the 
Scriptures.  But  however  that  may  be,  this  much  at 
least  is  clear,  that  their  fall  was  not  the  offspring  of 
the  being  given  to  them  by  their  Creator,  but  pro- 
ceeded from  a  fund  "of  their  own,"^  acquired  by  a 
perversion  of  their  powers  in  the  abuse  of  their  moral 
freedom. 

But  the  revolt  in  the  angelic  world  was  not  uni- 
versal ;  they  did  not  all  fall ;  a  great,  indeed,  in  all 
probability,  the  incomparably  greatest  part  of  these 
holy  beings,  remained  true  to  the  Divine  appoint- 
ment and  "kept  their  first  estate."  We  are  led  to 
this  opinion  by  the  cumulative  exuberance  of  ex- 
pression used  in  attempting  to  give  us  some  idea  of 
the  number  of  those  "who  kept  their  first  estate,"  in 
contrast  with  the  absence  of  all  such  laboring  ex- 
pressions when  the  fallen  angels  are  mentioned. 

devil  to  us  as  already  envious;  consequently,  as  already  fallen.  It 
does  not  explain  by  Avhat  means  the  devil  fell,  but  merely  how 
man  was  caused  to  fall :  not  how  destruction  entered  the  angelic 
world,  but  simply  how  death  entered  our  human  world.  And  the 
explanation  itself  is  scriptural  enough.  For  it  is  clear,  from  the 
third  chapter  of  Genesis,  that  envy  on  the  part  of  the  devil,  at  the 
high  position  or  destiny  of  man,  lay  at  the  foundation  of  the 
temptation. 
1  Jno.  8  :  44. 


FALLEN    ANGELS    IRREDEEMABLE.  215 

111  consequence  of  the  fact  that,  in  the  case  of  the 
angels,  the  idea  of  species  is  determined  and  sus- 
tained merely  through  the  oneness  of  their  position, 
duties  and  services,  but  not  through  natural  genera- 
tion and  propagation  of  kind,  the  fall  of  one  part  of 
these  beings  did  not,  in  itself,  involve  the  fall  of  any 
or  all  of  the  rest.  Still,  however,  the  movement 
which  resulted  in  the  fall  of  some,  could  not  have 
left  the  others  in  a  state  of  indifterence,  mere  idle 
spectators  of  the  appalling  scene.  For,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  fact  that  a  like  nature,  a  like  destiny, 
a  simultaneous  existence,  bound  all  orders  and  modes 
of  angelic  life  together,  into  an  intimate  relation,  it 
was  impossible  but  that  the  determination  of  one  or 
several  of  them  with  regard  to  the  question  of  their 
allegiance  or  relation  to  their  Creator,  should  force 
the  rest  to  come  to  a  speedy  decision  also.  The  fall 
of  Satan  convulsed  the  whole  angelic  world,  and 
made  it  necessary  that  every  individual  should  take 
his  stand,  either  on  th&  side  of  God  or  on  the  side  of 
Satan,  that  he  should  fall  in  with  the  will  of  God,  or 
with  the  will  of  Satan.  We  cannot  imagine  that 
there  were  there  any  merely  idle  spectators,  who 
sided  with  neither  party. 

§  21.   The  fallen  Arigels  not  capable  of  Redemption, 

Thus  there  came  to  pass  a  revolt  in  the  angelic 
world,  and  it  was  divided  into  two  hostile,  antago- 
nistic parties  —  good  and  bad  angels.  The  revolt  of 
the  latter,  their  daring  self-deternaination  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  known  will  of  God,  was  absolute  and 
final — it  left  no  possibility  of  a  return  on  their  part, 


216        BIBLICAL     THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

nor  of  salvation  from  God.  I^owliere  in  Holy  Writ 
do  we  find  the  most  distant  intimation  that  the  fallen 
angels  maybe  converted  and  redeemed;  tlieir  eternal 
condemnation  was  pre-determined  from  the  begin- 
ning.^ We  may  not  seek  the  grounds  of  their  con- 
demnation in  the  will  of  God,  as  though  God,  not- 
withstanding the  possibility  of  their  being  redeemed, 
is  unwilling  that  they  should  be, — this  would  impeach 
the  holy  character  of  God  himself,  as  seen  in  the 
mirror  of  revelation.  All  creatures  were  created  and 
appointed  to  secure  happiness,  and  God  will  never 
allow  this  design  to  be  frustrated,  so  long  as  its 
realization  is  yet  possible.  He  has  no  pleasure  in 
the  death  of  the  wicked,  but  would  rather  that 
they  should  turn  to  him  and  joyfully  accept  the  offers 
of  his  grace. 2  Had  Satan  himself  been  capable  of 
salvation^  God  would  doubtless  have  provided  for 
liini  and  his  subjects,  a  salvation  adapted  to  their 
condition.  The  ground  of  their  hopeless  condemna- 
tion, therefore,  is  to  be  sought  only  in  the  angels 
themselves ;  it  may  lie  in  their  nature^  in  their  willy 
or  in  both  at  the  same  time. 

In  the  case  of  the  angels,  as  with  all  free  creatures, 
the  grounds  of  their  moral  condition  or  state,  of  their 
moral  ability  or  inability,  must  be  sought  first  and 
above  all  in  their  own  ivill.  With  respect  to  the 
incapacities  of  the  fallen  angels,  however,  as  regards 
salvation,  these  grounds  are  not  difiicult  to  trace. 
They  engendered  sin  within  themselves,  purely  out 

^  Jude  6  ;  2  Pet.  2:4;  Matt.  25  :  41  ;  Rev.  20 :  10,  etc. 
2  Ezek.  33  :  11 ;  2  Pet.  3  :  9 ;  1  Tim.  2  :  4,  etc. 


FALLEX    ANGELS    IRREDEEMABLE.  217 

of  their  oivn  will/  without  any  temptation  or  entice- 
ment from  without,  without  any  positiv^e  occasion  or 
inducement  to  commit  sin ;  they  themselves  w^ere 
the  creators  and  fathers  of  the  evil  wdiich  now  reigns 
so  fearfully  within  their  bosoms.  That  decision  of 
their  minds  which  was  the  root  of  all  evil,  was  thus 
an  absolute,  a  final  decision ;  the  evil  which  they 
voluntarily  engendered  was  an  absolute  evil,  conse- 
quently a  change  on  their  part,  or  repentance  and 
salvation  in  their  case,  is  wdiolly  out  of  the  question. 

Although,  according  to  the  above,  the  ground  of 
the  impossibility  of  their  salvation  is  to  be  found 
first  and  chiefly  in  their  own  will,  still  it  may  also  be 
that  their  nature  is  such  as  not  to  allow  of  their  be- 
ing redeemed ;  not,  however,  that  the  strength  of  the 
former  and  primary  ground  should  be  at  all  weakened 
or  destroyed  by  the  latter.  Their  nature  itself  may, 
for  aught  we  know,  be  such  that  the  decision  con- 
nected with  it,  once  fixed  upon,  was  an  absolute  one, 
one  that  could  never  be  re-considered. 

Besides,  the  nature  of  the  angels  in  itself  consid- 
ered, apart  from  any  decisive  and  final  character  it 
may  lend  to  the  decisions  of  their  minds,  seems  to 
render  the  redemption  of  these  beings  impossible. 
So  far  as  we  can  see,  salvation  is  possible  only  under 
these  conditions ;  that  a  new  and  vigorous  life,  far 
exceeding  in  energy  the  might  of  sin  and  death 
already  existing  in  the  fallen  being,  a  life  capable  of 
overpoAvering  and  casting  out  sin  and  death,  should 
enter  the  sinful  creature  —  that  a  supernatural,  a  Di- 
vine life  should  dwell  in  the  fallen  one,  in  persona] 

'  Jno.  8  :  44. 

19 


218        BIBLICAL     THEORY    OF    THE    V/ORLD. 

and  essential  union  with  it;  in  order  to  annul,  in  it 
and /or  it,  the  effects  of  a  course  of  ungodly  develop- 
ment, in  order  to  take  up  the  divinely-appointed  but 
neglected  development,  and  conduct  it  with  the  crea- 
ture itself  to  its  highest  completion ;  or,  in  other 
words,  God  himself  must  become  man  in  order  to 
redeem  ma7ikind :  to  redeem  the  angels,  he  would 
have  had  to  assume  and  permanently  retain  the  na- 
ture and  being  of  the  angels — himself  become  an 
angel.  This  effective  assumption  of  the  creature's 
nature,  as  we  have  already  seen,  was  possible  in  the 
case  of  man  ;  but  it  was  not  possible  in  the  case  of 
the  angels,  because  they  were  made  by  their  creation 
itself  a  fixed  and  definite  multitude  of  individuals, 
not  permitting  of  increase  by  propagation ;  because 
they  were  not  united  together  by  a  bond  of  unity  of 
nature  and  being  founded  upon  the  mode  of  their 
origin — their  having  a  common  ancestor  and  head 
from  whom  they  all  derived  their  descent.  Conse- 
quently, had  God  assumed  their  nature,  the  w^ant  of 
this  indispensable  unity  of  the  species,  would  have 
prevented  the  application  of  the  obedience  and 
merits  of  their  substitute,  to  the  special  necessities 
and  wants  of  each  individual.  Had  God  become  an 
angel,  then  would  this  God-angel  have  held  an  indi- 
vidual, isolated  position,  just  as  any  other  created 
angel ;  but  wdien  he  became  man,  he  at  once  entered 
into  the  most  intimate  relation  of  both  blood  and 
nature  with  the  whole  human  race,  and  every  parti- 
cular individual  of  it.  The  angels  being  created 
w^ithout  sex,  it  was  impossible  that  they  should  all 
be  deinved  from  one,  by  natural  descent.     In  this 


FALLEN    ANGELS    IRREDEEMABLE.  219 

lay  an  advantage^  as  the  fall  of  one  could  not,  tln-ongh 
the  tics  of  blood  and  natural  descent,  include  the 
fall  of  all  the  rest,  as  was  virtually  the  fact  in  the 
case  of  man.  But  it  also  involved  the  disadvantage 
no  less,  that  a  common  redemption  from  one  Re- 
deemer, could  not  be  extended  to  all,  on  the  principle 
of  unity  of  race — on  the  principle  of  substitution 
and  imputation. 

We  have  hei-e  advantage  confrounted  with  dis- 
advantage, so  that  it  is  still  impossible  to  say  that 
the  angels  are  less  favored  or  made  inferior  to  men. 
Matthew,  indeed,  Chap.  22,  30,  shows  clearly  that 
the  absence  of  the  characteristic  of  sex,  is  in  itself 
an  evidence  of  a  higher  stage  of  advancement,  since 
man  only  at  the  close  of  his  history,  at  the  resurrec- 
tion, when  he  is  to  be  rendered  perfect  physically, 
and  in  all  respects,  shall  attain  to  that  condition,  or 
stage  of  advancement,  in  which  the  angels  were 
placed  immediately  on  their  creation.  The  possibil- 
ity of  the  angels  arriving  at  a  state  not  admitting  of 
their  being  redeemed,  by  obstinate  rebellion  and  per- 
versity of  will,  is  balanced  by  the  possibility  of  man 
arriving  at  a  like  state,  by  obstinately  refusing  to  be 
saved,  b}^  rejecting  an  offered  redemption,  and  thus, 
like  the  fallen  angels,  attaining  to  a  state  of  abso- 
lute evil,  of  irremediable  and  everlasting  condemna- 
tion. The  point  when  a  final  and  absolute  decision 
is  to  be  made,  which  in  the  case  of  the  angels  must, 
bo^i  from  their  nature  and  destiny,  have  been  but  a 
short  time  subsequent  to  their  creation,  cannot  and 
will  not  be  omitted  or  neglected  in  the  case  of  man. 
It  merely  comes  later  in  his  case,  conformably  to 


220        BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

what  may  be  cliiFerent  in  his  nature,  destin}^,  and 
development,  but  is  just  as  unavoidable  as  that  of 
the  angels,  and  as  irreversible  in  the  nature  of  its 
consequences. 

§  22.  The  Perpetuity  of  Evil  among  the  fallen  Angels. 

But  this  ungodly  self-determination,  and  opposi- 
tion to  God  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  angels,  did 
not  bring  their  history  to  its  close.  The  fallen 
angels  could  indeed  never  return;  but  they  might 
advance  still  further  on  the  road  to  destruction. 

It  is  the  prerogative  of  a  free,  personal  being,  not 
only  to  determine  itself  contrary  to  the  appointment 
of  God,  but  also  to  continue  to  exist,  after  having 
renounced  its  allegiance  to  him,  and  further,  to 
follow  out,  wholly  unrestrained,  the  godless  course 
of  development  it  may  have  chosen,  even  to  its 
ultimate  goal.  Both  Divine  wisdom  and  justice 
demand  that  evil,  wherever  it  has  gained  a  foothold, 
should  be  abandoned  to  its  own  course.  Freedom 
is  not  given  to  the  created  spirit  conditionall}',  but, 
as  the  idea  of  personality  itself  demands,  ahsolutehj ; 
and  this  quality  of  its  constitution  must  ever  be 
retained,  even  though  the  creature  itself  be  cut  off 
from  the  eternal  source  of  its  being.  For  the  per- 
sonality of  the  creature  constitutes  its  likeness  to 
God,  so  that,  so  long  as  God  regards  himself,  it 
cannot  be  but  that  he  will  regard  the  personality  of 
the  creature.  God  is  strictly  just  in  all  his  dealings 
with  Satan ;  and  even  in  his  case,  respects  the  per- 
sonality belonging  to  the  creature.  Hence  it  was 
neither  possible  nor  desirable  that  God  should  anni- 


EVIL   AMONG    FALLEN   ANGELS.  221 

hilate  those  angels  that  sinned,  nor  that  he  should 
in  the  least  lessen  or  otherwise  affect  their  right  to 
freedom  and  to  existence. 

Freedom  of  development  must  ever  he  retained 
by  them  as  an  undisturbed  possession ;  but  in  the 
case  of  a  finite  being,  such  a  boon  always  brings 
with  it  a  something  else  as  its  balancing  and  opposite 
pole  —  necessity.  The  direction,  indeed,  which  they 
took,  was  altogether  one  of  their  own  choosing ;  but 
the  goal  to  which  it  leads,  is  a  necessary  one,  and 
can  never  be  changed.  They  possessed  full  power 
to  renounce  all  allegiance  to  God ;  but  at  the  same 
time,  they  must  abide  the  consequences  of  such  a 
daring  and  wicked  act.  That  eternal  condemnation 
which  overtakes  the  fallen  angels,  incorrigible  in 
their  wickedness  and  settled  opposition  to  God,  is 
the  direct  and  proper  result  of  God's  still  respecting 
the  personalities  with  which  they  were  originally 
endowed. 

Also  Divine  wisdom,  no  less  than  Divine  justice, 
demands  that  evil  should  be  left  to  an  undisturbed 
development  of  itself,  according  to  the  laws  of  its 
nature.  So  soon  as  evil  came  into  existence,  it 
manifested  itself  as  an  external  power,  a  reality, 
whose  inner  weakness  and  futility,  when  opposed  to 
the  Divine  will,  can  be  satisfactorilj^  discovered,  only 
when  it  has  completely  unfolded  itself;  when  all  the 
germs  it  contains  have  been  developed;  when  all  its 
powers  have  been  enlisted  in  vain;  when  all  the 
appalling  self-deceptions  and  fearful  self-delusions 
it  has  practiced,  obstinately  and  of  its  own  accord, 
are  completely  unveiled  and  brought  to  light.  The 
19* 


222        BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

development  of  evil  is  its  own  overthrow  —  its  every 
apparent  triumph  is  but  a  new  defeat. 

The  annihilation  of  the  fallen  angels,  on  the  part 
of  God,  the  abolishment  of  their  freedom,  or  a 
forcible  restraint  of  their  efforts  in  opposition  to 
God,  would  not  have  been  proper  or  allowable.  As 
they  were  incapable  of  salvation,  both  from  their 
nature  and  from  the  character  of  their  will,  it  was 
necessary  that  they  should  be  abandoned  to  that  fate 
of  which  they  themselves  were  the  authors  ;  and  as 
their  revolt  from  God  was  at  once  absolute  and  deci- 
sive, it  was  uecessar}^  that  it  should  completely  unfold 
itself,  and  bring  to  perfection  its  own  proper  fruits. 

But  so  soon  as  this  was  accomplished,  they 
might,  so  far  as  they  are  objects  of  the  effects  of  sin, 
be  made  to  pass  through  their  last  judgment.  But 
they  are  implicated  in  and  take  part  in  another  and 
a  no  less  important  affair,  which  must  be  brought  to 
a  close  before  their  final  sentence  is  pronounced. 

We  of  course  refer  to  their  relation  to  the  earth 
and  man,  and  to  the  part  they  play  in  human  history. 
Here  also  must  that  which  speciall}^  belongs  to  them 
— their  chapter  in  the  history — be  fully  unfolded, 
and  their  complete  overthrow  be  accomplished,  before 
they  shall  be  ready  for  the  judgment.  Compare  §  25. 

§  23.  The  Abode  of  the  holy  Angels. 

The  very  idea  of  a  created  spirit  involves  the 
assumption  that  there  exists  somewhere  in  space,  a 
place  adapted  to  the  nature  and  exigencies  of  spirit- 
ual life,  a  place  where  the   spirit  may  realize  and 


THE  ABODE  OF  HOLY  ANGELS.     223 

manifest  its  life  and  freedom,  and  fulfil  its  peculiar 
mission. 

Ileaveii^  is  designated  by  tlie  Scripture  in  general, 
as  the  dwelling-place  of  tlie  good  angels.  They  ever 
appear  as  the  heavenly  host,  as  the  native  inhabitants 
of  those  blessed  heights,  to  which  man  casts  many  a 
longing  and  wistful  eye,  and  which  he  ever  fondly 
recognizes  as  the  place  of  unalloyed  and  unfailing 
happiness  and  glory.  The  idea  of  angelic  beings, 
and  the  idea  of  the  heavens,  are  so  closely  connected, 
and  the  correlation  of  the  two  is  so  deep  and  so  real, 
both  according  to  Scripture  and  Christian  sentiment, 
that  they  can  hardly  be  dissociated — one  ever  suggests 
the  other. 

But  the  word  heaven  is  so  general  and  compre- 
hensive in  its  application,  that  we  must  seek  to  give 
it  narrower  and  more  carefully  defined  bounds,  before 
it  can  be  taken  as  the  correlative  of  the  word  angel, 
in  the  strictest  sense. 

That  significant  description  in  the  Book  of  Job 
(chap.  38),  part  of  which  we  have  already  quoted 
(§  17)  for  a  difi[erent  purpose,  sheds  some  light  upon 
this  question. 

""Wliere  wast  thou  when  I  laid  the  foundations  of 
the  earth  ? 
*  -»  *  *  ^- 

^  [The  words  heaven  and  heavens  are  used  in  this  section^  as  in- 
deed frequently  throughout  the  book,  as  convertible  terms :  the 
word  heaven  not  being  confined  to  its  special  designation  as  a  name 
for  the  abode  of  the  blessed,  but  including  as  well  the  physical 
heavens,  whether  they  constitute  that  abode  or  not.  This  usage 
seems  best  adapted  to  giving  the  author's  idea,  while  speaking  in 
accordance  with  common  modes  of  expression. — Tr.] 


224         BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WOELD. 

"When  tlie  morning  stars  sang  together, 
And  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy." 

Here  we  have,  in  addition  to  the  sons  of  God  cele- 
brating the  founding  of  the  earth,  the  morning  stars 
mentioned  as  joining  in  the  jubilant  chorus.  But, 
according  to  the  well-known  laws  of  poetical  paral- 
lelism in  Hebrew  poetry,  it  is  necessary  that  the  tw^o 
corresponding  members,  ''the  morning  stars,"  and 
*'the  sons  of  God,"  should  be  essentially  connected, 
that  they  should  either  be  identical  in  meaning,  or 
at  least,  be  comprehended  under  one  common  (ein- 
heitlichen)  idea.^ 

As  we.  have  previously  learned,  the  morning  stars 
are  those  glorious  worlds  of  light  wd:iose  undying 
fires  ever  light  up  the  vault  of  heaven.     What  now 

'  I  cannot  but  persist  in  this  opinion  although  Hofmann  [Sclirift- 
bew,  I.  352,)  says  :  "  This  passage  has  been  perverted  for  the  pur- 
pose of  showing  a  connection  between  the  angels  and  the  stars, 
in  the  Biblical  theory  of  the  world."  .  .  .  .  "  That  such  was 
by  no  means  the  idea  of  the  poet,  appears  clearly  from  Chap.  15  :  15, 
where  "his  saints  "are  put  in  precisely  the  same  relation  to  "the 
heavens,"  that  "  the  sons  of  God  "  are  to  "  the  morning  stars."  But 
it  may  soon  be  seen  how  inconclusive  this  argument  is.  The 
parallelism  of  15  :  15  does  not,  at  all  events,  consist  in  the  mutual  re- 
lation of  the  celestial  spheres  and  the  saints  of  the  earth.  Nay, 
rather,  "  the  heavens  "  must  either  be  regarded  (with  Halin,  79)  as 
the  abode  of  the  saints,  (and  hence  the  latter  be  the  angels),  or  we 
must  (with  Sdilottmaiin  and  others,)  refer  "the  saints"  to  the  in- 
habitants of  the  earth,  indeed,  but  then  the  term  "  heavens  "  to  the 
inhabitants  of  heaven,  just  as  ^^  col  haarez"  (the  whole  earth)  is 
frequently  spoken  of  the  iiiJiahitants  of  the  earth.  That  such  a  me- 
tonomy  with  respect  to  the  heavens  and  the  angels  was  by  no 
means  unusual,  is  evidenced  in  the  fact  that  both  ideas  are  desig- 
nated by  one  and  the  same  expression,  "the  hosts  of  heaven." 


THE  ABODE  OF  HOLY  ANGELS.     225 

is  a  more  natural  assumption,  since  the  heavens  are 
SO  universally  represented  as  the  dwelling-place  of 
the  angels,  than  that  the  inspired  and  Divinely 
illumined  poet  may  have  regarded  the  sons  of  God 
as  the  inhabitants  of  these  morning  stars  ? 

This  argument  derives  additional  weight  from  the 
fact  that  the  same  view  prevails  in  all  the  other 
writings  of  the  Old  Testament.  For  the  words,  ''the 
host  of  heaven,"  designate  both  the  stars  of  heaven,^ 
and  also  the  multitude  of  the  angels  who  praise  the 
Lord  and  fulfil  his  commands.- 

As  to  the  physical  constitution  and  laws  of  these 
celestial  and  angelic  worlds,  we  need  not  expect  any 
definite  information  fi^om  Scripture.  Revelation 
must  have  taken  a  wholly  difi:erent  stand;  have  done 
violence  to  its  nature  and  object;  indeed,  must  have 
become  a  text-book  in  Astronomy  itself,  in  order  to 
describe  the  heavenly  bodies  to  us  in  these  relations. 

But  it  does,  nevertheless,  and  in  harmony  with  its 
design,  contemplate  and  represent  their  physical 
nature,  in  its  ethical  and  religious  bearings. 

They  all  bear  the  marks  which  characterize  every 
created  thing ;  they  were  all  created  out  of  nothing, 
according  to  the  will  of  the  Creator,  w^ho  alone  is 
from  eternity  and  an  absolute  Being.  How  mutable 
also  and  how^  incomplete  are  they  all,  when  com- 
pared w^ith  the  immutability  and  spotless  purity  of 
God  !     Hence  sings  the  sacred  Psalmist  :^ 

iGen.2:l;  Deut.  4  :  19  ;  Is.  34  :  4  ;  Jer.  33  :  2  ;  Ps.  33  :  6,  etc. 
2Gen.  32  :  1,  2 ;  Ps.  103  :  21;  Ps.  148  :  2;  1  Kings  22  :  19; 
comp.  Luke  2  :  13,  etc. 
3  Ps.  122  :  25-27. 


226  BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

"Of  old  liast  tlioii  laid  the  foundations  of  the  earth: 
And  the  heavens  are  the  work  of  thy  hands. 
They  shall  perish  but  thou  shalt  endure : 
Yea,  all  of  them  shall  wax  old  like  a  garment ; 
As  a  vesture  shalt  thou  change  them,  and  they  shall 

be  changed ; 
But  thou  art  the  same,  and  thy  years  shall  have  no 

end." 

And  thus  the  Book  of  Job  (25  :  5) : 

"Behold  even  to  the  moon,  and  it  shineth  not; 
Yea,  the  stars  are  not  pure  in  his  sight." 

But  in  all  instances,  on  the  contrary,  where  it  is 
not  the  leading  design  of  the  inspired  writer,  to  set 
forth  prominently  the  contrast  between  the  Infinite 
and  his  finite  works,  the  heavens  with  all  their  glit- 
tering worlds,  are  represented  as  the  culminating 
point  of  all  glory  and  blessedness,  of  all  order  and 
harmony  in  connection  with  created  things :  and 
that  song  of  praise  which  their  perfection,  their 
grandeur,  and  glorj^,  resound  to  the  honor  of  Him 
who  so  created  them,^  surpasses  in  swelling  fulness 
and  majestic  harmony  all  other  songs  of  praise. 

How  could  it,  indeed,  be  otherwise  ?  How  could 
the  celestial  worlds  be  the  dwelling-place  of  the 
angelic  hosts,  and  not  correspond  in  glory  to  their 
glorious  inhabitants  ?  The  body  must  correspond 
to  the  soul  inhabiting  it,  the  dwelling-place  to  the 
inhabitant. 

If  we  everywhere  find  the  angels  represented  as 

1  Ps.  19  :  1. 


THE  ABODE  OF  HOLY  ANGELS.     227 

pure,  holy  beings,  who  have  remained  steadfast  in 
the  truth,  have  been  true  to  their  calling  and  destiny, 
and  amidst  whom  life  and  happiness,  peace  and  joy, 
hold  undisturbed  sway,  what  is  more  natural  than  to 
suppose  that  their  abode  should  partake  of  a  cha- 
racter corresponding  to  these  glorious  attributes  ? 
Every  manifestation,  evidence,  and  token  of  sin, 
sickness  and  death,  gloom  and  destruction,  of  dis- 
sension, disorder  and  tumult,  must  for  ever  remain 
foreign  from  those  holy  abodes  ;  every  look  must  be 
a  beam  of  joy  and  delight,  every  tone  a  hymn  of 
rapture,  and  every  movement  be  graced  with  holy 
love.  Countless  also  as  the  multitudes  of  the  "hea- 
venly host,"  must  be  the  number  of  celestial  abodes. 
The  being,  mission,  and  destiny  of  the  angels,  ap- 
pear to  partake  of  remarkably  bold,  original,  and 
decided  peculiarities,  of  remarkably  profuse  and 
varied  characteristics.  ]N'ature  as  it  surrounds  and 
sustains  these  heavenly  beings,  must  partake  no  less 
of  the  same  marked  features  and  varied  adaptation — 
it  must  be  suited  to  every  condition,  development 
and  exigency  of  angelic  life. 

Further,  as  we  have  discovered  that,  according  to 
Scripture,  a  characteristic  peculiarity  of  the  angels 
consists  in  the  absence  of  all  sexual  distinction  be- 
tween them,  we  are  led  to  expect  that  this  peculiar 
feature  must  be  mirrored  in  their  heavenly  abodes — 
that  every  thing  which  in  our  world  appears  as  the 
cosmical  transcript  of  the  sexual  contrast,  must  there 
be  wanting :  that  those  blessed  abodes,  where  they 
neither  marry,  nor  are  given  in  marriage,  must  also 
be  free  from  all  the  physical  antagonisms  and  oppo- 


228        BIBLICAL     THEORY    OF     THE    WORLD. 

sitions,  the  restless  and  wearisome  play  of  forces, 
w^liich  constitute  such  hroad  contrasts  in  our  world ; 
and  that,  finally,  all  cosniical  forces  must  there  unite 
in  quiet  and  combined  (einheitlicher)  harmony,  and 
in  this  capacity  be  completely  adequate  to  perform 
all  their  functions  and  attain  all  their  ends. 

§  24.    The  Heaveyis  as  the  Dwelling-Place  of  God. 

G-od  exists  above  and  beyond  the  sphere  of  all 
history,  yet  he  still  rules  in  history,  and  moulds  it 
according  to  his  will :  He,  the  unchangeable,  exists 
above  all  changes  in  the  created  world,  yet  still  does 
he  involve  himself  in  all  the  changes  which  his  crea- 
tures experience,  in  order  to  prepare  them  for  and 
raise  them  to  his  unchangeable  state,  to  a  state  of 
absolute,  inalienable  completeness  and  blessedness. 
He  condescends  to  the  low  condition  of  his  pupil, 
grows  with  him  to  the  height  of  His  manifestation 
in  the  creature,  so  that  the  latter  may  be  fully  pre- 
pared to  take  part  in  the  glory  and  blessedness  of 
Deit}^,  so  that  He  who  is  alone  holy  and  blessed, 
may  be  all  in  alV 

A¥e  have  contemplated  angels  and  men  with 
respect  to  their  position  and  mission  ;  we  have  con- 
sidered the  heavens  as  the  dwelling-place  of  the 
angels,  the  earth  as  the  abode  of  man ;  and  finally, 
w^e  have  learned  the  essential  features  of  the  relation 
these  two  portions  of  the  universe  hold  towards  each 
other.  It  yet  remains  to  discover  the  relation  of  both 
to  God, and  the  relation  God  holds  towards  them. 

The  heaven  is  the  throne  of  God,  and  the  earth  is  his 

1  1  Cor.  15  :  28. 


THE    DWELLING-PLACE    OF    GOD.  229 

foot-stool,  according  to  the  Scriptures.^  We  likewise 
are  taught  to  pray:  ''  Our  father,  who  art  in  heaven.'' 
"We  are  told  that  Christ,  who  himself  was  Divine  and 
from  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  passed  into  the  heavens, 
so  soon  as  his  work  on  earth  was  accomplished,  re- 
turning to  the  Father  again  that  he  might  take  pos- 
session of  the  throne  of  glory.  Hence  we  must  infer 
that  the  being  of  God  is  present  in  and  dwells  in  the 
heavens,  in  an  eminently  proper  sense. 

The  word  heaven  involves,  first,  the  idea  of  place, 
and  second,  the  idea  of  state  or  condition.  Accord- 
ing to  the  first  idea,  which  is  specially  prominent  in 
the  original  Hebrew  w^ord  (theheight,  high), this  bring- 
ing together  of  heaven  and  earth,  expresses  the  con- 
trast involved  in  the  expression,  upper  and  lower. 
The  idea  contained  in  this  expression,  is  in  and  of 
itself,  indeed,  ethically,  of  no  significance,  as  in  a 
physical  sense  it  is  merely  a  relative  idea.  But  when 
the  soul,  created  for  communion  with  God,  is  unable 
to  find  on  earth  what  it  stands  in  need  of,  and  what 
it  yearns  after,  then  does  it  cast  its  longing  glances 
upward.  See  we  ourselves  here  surrounded  w^ith  sins 
and  miseries,  then  do  we  there  above  seek  holiness 
and  happiness.  Thus  does  this  idea  come  to  have  an 
ethical  significance  (though  in  itself  it  possess  none), 
and  the  ideas  of  place  and  of  state  coincide — place 
and  state  become  convertible  terms.  Heaven  is  not 
the  place  of  perfect  happiness,  merely  because  it  is 
the  abode  of  the  blessed,  but  also  because  it  forms 
such  a  wide  contrast  with  the  earth,  because  it  is  a 
place  so  sublimely  transcending  our  earthly  abode. 

•  Is.  66  :  1 ;  Matt.  5  :  34,  35. 
20 


230        BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

The  eartli  is  the  theatre  for  the  developments  of  sin 
and  death,  of  discord  and  destruction ;  heaven  is  the 
blessed  abode  of  holiness,  of  tranquil  peace  and 
eternal  joy.  Earth  is  the  near,  the  present,  the  com- 
mon, the  finite,  the  sensible ;  heaven  is  the  distant, 
the  absent,  the  sublime,  the  unattainable,  the  super- 
sensible, the  infinite,  in  the  conception  of  which  we 
abstract  in  our  minds  all  that  is  or  may  be  known 
through  the  medium  of  the  senses,  all  relations  or 
conditions  which  obtain  here  on  earth,  just  as  we  do 
in  our  attempts  to  form  a  conception  of  God. 

Thus  are  the  heavens  ever  represented  as  standing 
in  a  closer  relation  to  God  than  the  earth.  God  is 
omnipresent,  but  he  is  also  wholly  separate  from  sin- 
ners ;  according  to  the  one  idea  he  is  upon  earth  just 
as  really  as  he  is  in  heaven ;  but,  according  to  the 
other,  he  is  distant  from  and  infinitely  exalted  above 
it — he  is  in  heaven.  Happiness  and  holiness  consti- 
tute the  being  of  God ;  the  more  intensively  these 
attributes  anywhere  prevail,  there  must  we  suppose 
God  to  be  more  specially  present.  The  earth  pre- 
sents everywhere  to  our  view,  the  melancholy  aspects 
of  sin  and  of  death ;  heaven  is  the  abode  of  the 
angels,  wdiere  undisturbed  harmony  and  unalloyed 
happiness  ever  prevail ;  hence  must  we  suppose  that 
God  is  there  more  concretely, as  it  were,  more  power- 
fully present — heaven  being  his  throne  and  the  earth 
his  footstool. 

Moreover,  God  is  not  afar  off,  he  lives  in  all  things, 
and  they  exist  only  in  so  far  as  He  sustains  and  pre- 
serves them.  There  are  tokens  of  the  Divine  pres- 
ence in  every  blade  of  grass :  He  is  the  ever  Imma- 


THE     DWELLING-PLACE    OF    GOD.  231 

nent.  In  liim  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being, 
and  lie  it  is  who  gives  to  all  creatures,  life  and 
breath  and  all  things.^  But  he  is  also  a  God  afar 
off;  He  is  the  Infinite  One,  highly  exalted  beyond 
all  finite  things,  separated  from  them,  and  different 
from  them.  If  heaven  be  to  us,  in  its  relation  to  the 
earth,  the  far  distant,  the  sublime,  the  supersensible, 
in  a  measure  the  infinite,  then  does  it  in  this  respect 
stand  in  a  closer  relation  to  God  than  our  earth. 

But  we  have  not  done  yet.  The  greatest  intensity 
of  his  presence,  the  greatest  power  of  the  actual 
Divine  presence,  lies  beyond  the  utmost  limits  of 
sense  —  beyond  creation  —  for  here  it  cannot  be  con- 
tained. Yonder  above  is  the  place  where  God  abso- 
lutely dwells,  in  the  heaven  of  heavens,  the  most 
JwJy  place,  from  whence  Christ  came  forth,  and  to 
which  he  returned,  in  order  to  appear  in  the  pres- 
ence of  God  for  us;^  the  third  heaven,  into  Avhich 
Paul  was  caught  up,  and  where  he  heard  unspeakable 
words,  which  it  was  not  lawful  for  man  to  utter.^ 
Tliere  it  is  that  God  dwells  in  light  that  no  man  can 
approach  unto.* 

Beyond  all  doubt  tliere  is  such  a  being  and  such  a 
dwelling  of  God,  infinitely  exalted  above  the  bounds 
of  sense  and  finite  creation ;  for  the  heaven,  even 
tlie  heaven  of  heavens,  all  of  which  He  has  created, 
cannot  contain  him;^  and  however  great  and  perfect 
tlie  holiness  and  purity  of  the  angels  and  their  habi- 
tations may  be,  still  this  is  merely  a  relative  perfec- 
tion, and  cannot  bear  comparison  with  absolute,  with 

1  Acts  17.  2  nei3_  9  .  24.  3  2  Cor.  12  :  2. 

4  1  Tim.  6  :  16.  s  i  Kings  8  :  27. 


232       BIBLICAL     THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

infinite  perfection.  Hence  it  is  said:  "Behold,  lie 
putteth  no  trust  in  his  saints ;  yea,  the  heavens  are 
not  clean  in  his  sight."  ^ 

§  25.  Hetrosjjective  Vieiv  of  the  j^rimeval  History  of  the 
Eai'th  and  3Ian. 

In  the  consideration  of  the  primeval  Biblical  hi^- 
tory,^  we  left  several  significant  inquiries  unanswered. 
Since  that  time  w^e  have  gathered  much  new  infor- 
mation, from  subsequent  revelations.  May  Ave  not, 
perhaps,  find  in  it  the  key  to  a  deeper  insight  into 
that  history  ? 

Although  we  learned,  in  the  consideration  of  the 
fall  of  man,  that  the  tempter  who  appeared  as  a 
serpent  and  was  cursed  as  a  serpent,  must  have  been 
a  personal  spiritual  being,  we  had  there  to  be  satis- 
fied with  merely  raising  questions  concerning  the 
nature,  the  being,  the  position  and  character  of  this 
m^'sterious  2:)ersonality.  But  we  are  now  no  longer 
in  doubt  as  to  who  and  tvhat  that  tempter  was  that 
appeared  by  the  tree  of  knowledge. 

Besides  such  fact,  however,  the  subsequent  stages 
of  Divine  disclosures,  bear  the  clearest  and  most 
decisive  witness  to  the  true  character  of  this  being. 
Christ  himself  says  of  the  devil,  that  he  is  "  a  mur- 
derer from  the  beginning,"  since  he  brought  sin  into 
the  world,  and  death  by  sin.  In  the  Revelation  of 
John  (chap.  12  :  9),  he  is  characterized  as  "the  old 
serpent''  which  deceiveth  the  whole  world.  Compare 
^Ist  John  3  :  8  ;  2  Cor.  11  :  3 ;  Rev.  20  :  2,  &c. 

If  it  be  true  that  tlie  serpent,  by  whom  man  was 

1  Job  15  :  15.  »  Gen.  1-3. 


PRIMEVAL     EARTH    AND    MAN.  233 

betrayed,  so  soon  as  lie  essayed  to  employ  the  powers 
God  had  given  him,  was  closely  and  essentially  con- 
nected with  the  prince  of  the  fallen  angels — whether 
as  his  instrument,  image,  or  representative — we  have 
in  this  history  some  data  toward  fixing  the  time  of 
the  fall  of  this  prince  of  darkness.  We  find  him 
hanging  about  the  cradle  of  human  history,  w^ith  his 
malignant  opposition  to  God  already  fully  developed. 
Hence  we  may  at  least  conclude,  that  Ids  fall  was 
previous  to  the  fall  of  man ;  and,  as  the  latter  took 
place  wdien  man^r^f  employed  his  free  will,  that  it 
was  also  previous  to  the  creation  of  man.  Still  further, 
there  is  every  reason  for  supposing  that  this  catas- 
trophe in  the  angelic  world  happened  very  soon  after 
the  creation  of  the  angels  themselves.  For,  as  the 
probation  of  man,  the  test  of  his  course  in  relation 
to  the  will  of  God,  stood  at  the  beginning  of  human 
history,  and  first  called  into  exercise  his  powers  of 
choice,  so  also  was  it  wdth  the  angels — their  history 
also  commenced  in  a  corresponding  probation. 

As  we  have  inquired  concerning  the  time  of  their 
fall,  so  also  may  w^e  inquire  after  its  place.  That  this 
catastrophe  happened  in  some  particular  place  in  the 
universe,  is  involved  in  the  very  idea  of  a  creature — 
a  being  that  can  realize  and  manifest  its  life  only  in 
time  and  in  space.  We  are  fully  warranted  in  the 
assertion,  that  the  fall  of  the  angels  must  have  left 
corresponding  traces  of  ruin  in  material  nature,  in 
the  midst  of  which  they  dwelt  and  where  they  exer- 
cised their  power ;  and  that  these  traces  would  be  the 
more  marked  and  significant,  the  more  important  the 
position  of  the  rebels,  the  more  portentous  and  far- 
20* 


234        BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

reaching  in  its  consequences  the  catastrophe  of  the 
falL  Our  authority  for  this  assertion  is  the  intimate 
and  essential  connection  between  spirit  and  nature, 
mind  and  matter. 

The  fallen  angels  appear  at  the  commencement  of. 
the  human  race,  as  confirmed  rebels  against  the 
authority  of  God ;  consequent!}^,  the  traces  of  that 
desolating  catastrophe  must  be  sought  in  times  an- 
terior to  the  existence  of  man. 

Taking  up  the  Divine  record,  our  eyes  immediately 
light  upon  that  enigmatical  ''tohu  va  boJiu,"  that 
description  of  a  waste  and  desolate  condition,  and  of 
darkness,  Avhich  reigned  over  the  earth  as  it  appeared 
for  the  first  time  to  the  eyes  of  the  prophet,  anterior 
to  the  six  days'  work. 

Have  w^e  not  here  found  just  what  we  have  been 
in  search  of,  a  waste  and  desolate  condition  such  as 
we  might  expect,  and  appearing  at  the  very  time  we 
should  expect  it  must  have  taken  place  ? 

We  w^ere  previously  compelled  (§  6,)  to  pass  by 
this  puzzling  hieroglyphic  of  primeval  history,  with- 
out being  able  to  interpret  it,  without  being  able  to 
fathom  and  comprehend  its  origin  and  true  import. 
But  since  that  time,  our  stock  of  knowledge  has  been 
vastly  increased,  by  continual  drafts  upon  revelation 
— perhaps  we  may  now  be  prepared  to  grapple  with 
the  problem. 

We  discovered  previously,  w^hen  our  inquiring 
minds  dwelt  upon  this  expression,  (but  without  ar- 
riving at  any  satisfactory^  conclusion),  that  the  words 
"  tohu  va  bohu,"  wherever  else  they  appear,  designate, 
beyond  all  doubt,  a  positive  devastation  and  desolation^ 


PRIMEVAL    EARTH    AND    MAN.  235 

which  has  succeeded  to  ^^revious  life  and  fruitfulness. 
This  very  fact  involves  the  probability  at  least,  if  not 
the  necessity,  that  these  words  should  be  interpreted 
in  the  same  sense  Jiere  also. 

]N"or  could  we  formerly  conceal  from  our  minds 
the  fact,  that  the  words  "  the  earth  ivas  without  form 
and  void,  and  darkness  was  wpon  the  face  of  tlie  deep  ;'' 
if  interpreted  wholly  upon  their  own  merits,  much 
more  naturally  and  appositely  refer  to  a  devastation 
of  some  work  of  God,  which  has  taken  place  since 
its  creation,  than  to  a  work  not  yet  completely  finished, 
one  still  devoid  of  the  his/her  cosmical  attributes — 
light  and  life.  For  a  Divine  work,  as  then  remarked, 
though  it  be  not  completely  formed  and  advanced  to 
the  stage  of  perfection,  must,  according  to  the  mea- 
sure of  its  completeness  and  capacity,  reflect  a  Divine 
harmony  and  order,  light  and  life. 

From  that  point  of  view  even,  we  could  not  avoid 
regarding  it  as  probable,  that  this  dark,  waste,  and 
barren  condition  of  the  primeval  earth,  was  the 
result  of  a  desolating  and  devastatiug  process  brought 
to  bear  upon  a  world  originally  full  of  harmony  and 
teeming  with  life.  But  while  we  there  iuclined  to 
this  view  as  the  correct  one,  the  necessary  data  were 
still  wanting,  from  which  to  gather  clear  views  of  the 
origin,  nature,  and  historical  bearings  of  this  assumed 
devastating  process. 

But  we  have  here  found,  in  the  fall  of  the  angels, 
the  data  that  were  previously  wanting.  We  there 
discovered  a  waste  and  desolate  condition  of  the  earth, 
for  which  we  could  in  no  way  find  an  author,  but  by 
the  present  interpretation  —  here  we  have  found  a 


destroyer,  for  whom  we  cannot  otherwise  find  a  cor- 
responding destruction  !  There,  darkness  enshroud- 
ing the  wild  chaos,  a  dreary  waste,  an  uninhabited 
solitude;  here,  a  kingdom  of  darkness,  spirits  of  the 
abyss,  of  confusion  and  destruction.  E"o  less  do  the 
two  coincide  with  respect  to  time ;  for  both  appear 
previous  to  the  creation  of  man,  previous  to  the  six 
days'  work.^ 

Since  now  all  the  evidences  of  the  two  facts,  the 
fall  of  the  angels  and  the  desolating  of  the  primeval 
earth,  so  perfectly  coincide,  we  are  not  only  justified 
in  holding  the  two  to  be  essentially  connected,  but 
almost  forced  so  to  do,  and  to  regard  the  "  tohu  va 
hohu''  of  Gen.  1,  2,  as  a  consequence  of  the  revolt  in 
the  angelic  world.  And  we  would  still  further  re- 
mark that,  with  the  aid  of  this  assumption,  and  with 
it  alone,  many  other  perplexing  inquiries  can  be  satis- 
factorily answered,  and  many  problems  in  the  history 
of  the  human  race  find  their  proper  and  long-sought 
solution — that  an  unexpected  light  bursts  forth  from 

'  The  view  here  defended  is  by  no  means  of  modern  origin.  So 
long  ago  as  in  the  tenth  century,  it  was  said  by  Edgar,  king  of 
England,  in  confirmation  of  the  law  of  Oswald:  "As  God  drove 
the  angels  from  the  earth,  after  their  fall,  whereupon  the  latter 
was  changed  into  a  chaos,  so  has  he  now  placed  kings  upon  the 
earth,  that  justice  might  obtain  here  below."  Comp.  Tholuck : 
Vermis. ScJir.  IT,  230.  The  same  view  subsequently  and  continu- 
ously received  favor,  and  is  now  held  by  very  many.  And  not 
only  Theosophists  are  addicted  to  it,  and  interpreters  tainted  with 
theosophy,  such  as  J.  Bohme,  St.  Martin,  J.  M.  Ilahn,  Fr.  von 
Meyer,  Hamberger,  and  the  like  ;  but  also,  such  safe  and  consider- 
ate authors  as  Reichel,  Stier,  G.  11.  von  Schubert,  Kniewel, 
Drechsler,  Rudelbach,  Guericke,  M.  Baumgarten,  Lebeau.  A. 
Wagner,  and  many  others,  have  expressed  themselves  in  its  favor. 


PRIMEVAL    EARTH    AND    MAN.  237 

this  fresh  and  important  acquisition  to  our  know- 
ledge, and  is  shed  over  many  obscure  points  in  the 
circle  of  our  religious  ideas.  This  shall  be  so  clearly 
seen  as  we  proceed  with  our  inquiry,  that  all  doubts 
and  scruples  as  to  the  legitimacy  and  admissibility 
of  our  combinations  and  deductions,  which  may  still 
for  the  present  be  left  out  of  the  question,  must  com- 
pletely vanish. 

Thus  we  find  an  earth  even  in  pre-adamite  times, 
and,  no  less,  a  history  unfolding  itself  upon  and 
with  respect  to  this  earth.  The  prophet  who  con- 
ceived this  primeval  history,  beheld  the  earth  as 
"without  form  and  void"  —  a  barren  and  dreary 
waste.  This  waste  and  void  condition  was  2)receded 
by  a  state  of  order,  light  and  life,  such  as  it  is  fitting 
every  Divine  work  should  possess :  and  it  was  like- 
wise followed  by  a  Divine  restitution,  in  the  work  of 
the  six  days,  which  called  forth  light  from  darkness, 
order  and  teeming  life  from  the  dreary  and  barren 
waste ;  which  constituted  the  earth  as  it  at  present 
subsists,  established  order  upon,  and  filled  it  with 
abundance  of  life. ^ 

^The  arguments  of  Hofmann  [Schrifthew,  I,  p.  238,  242)  and 
Delitzsch  (Genesis,  p.  63,)  do  not  affect  the  point  at  issue.  I  have 
not  asserted  that  the  "  toJiu  va  hohu^'  of  the  second  verse  of  the 
Bible,  can  designate  only  a  positive  devastation  and  desolation. 
Nor  have  I  admitted  the  correctness  of  the  translation  :  "  And  the 
earth  became  waste  and  desolate."  Nay,  rather,  I  have  openly 
opposed  the  one  as  well  as  the  other.  And  further,  I  have  not 
wrung  my  view  out  of  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  ;  but  have  ex- 
pressly conceded,  that  neither  he  who  first  conceived  this  chapter, 
nor  he  who  subsequently  incorporated  it  into  the  Scriptures,  may 
have  discovered  in  the  "  tohu  va  hohu  "  what  I  do.     My  view  rests 


238        BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

The  devastation  was  a  consequence  of  the  fall  of 
the  angels,  and  from  this  we  further  conclude  that 
the  primeval  earth  was  the  habitation  of  the  angels, 
and  the  place  of  their  probation  —  of  that  part  of 

alone  upon  a  combination  of  Gen.  1  :  2,  -with  the  facts  supplied  us 
in  the  later  stages  of  revelation.  I  do  not  claim  for  it  the  author- 
ity of  revealed  truth,  nor  yet  the  character  of  a  necessary  conse- 
quence. It  is  a  hypothesis,  a  conjecture,  and  still  remains  such, 
claiming  only  probability,  and  not  certainty.  I  have  become  at- 
tached to  it,  because  it  satisfactorily  solves  many  heretofore  inex- 
plicable and  connected  problems  of  Scripture  and  natural  science  ; 
because  it,  in  my  view,  places  the  development-history  of  the 
whole  Cosmos,  under  a  single  point  of  view,  etc.  As  to  the  fur- 
ther remarks  of  Delitzscli  in  opposition  to  my  view,  they  do  not 
affect  it  in  the  least.  He  says  :  "  The  account  of  the  creation 
speaks,  to  the  unbiassed  mind,  of  the  creation  of  the  universe,'* 
(granted  !  but  of  the  creation  of  the  universe  only  so  far  as  it 
stands  related  to  the  earth),  "  and  not  of  the  mere  re-creation  of  the 
earth  and  its  solar  system."  (I  have  not  spoken  of  an  actual  re- 
creation being  taught  in  the  record,  but  merely  of  the  enlivening 
and  individualization  of  a  waste  and  barren  chaos.  If  we  may 
be  permitted,  from  the  facts  of  subsequent  revelation,  to  look 
upon  this  chaos  as  the  residuum  of  a  previous  creation,  now 
destroyed,  then  may  we  properly  enough  call  what  is  mentioned 
from  the  3rd  verse  forward,  a  "re-creation,''  or  as  I  have  desig- 
nated it,  a  "  restitution  or  new-creation."  In  the  second  edition 
of  this  work,  I  gave  up  the  idea  that  tlie  solar  system  was  com- 
prehended in  this  new-creation).  DeZ/tesc/i  continues,  but  to  no 
purpose:  "  The  cosmological  traditions  not pertainitig  to  the  Israel- 
ties,  ichich  sJiould  here  be  taken  into  consideration,  say  nothing  in 
regard  to  a  chaos  caused  by  the  fall  of  the  angels."  Whether  the 
traditions  of  the  heathen  should  here  be  taken  into  the  account  or 
not,  I  shall  not  stop  to  determine.  For  the  present  it  may  bo  admit- 
ted that  they  should.  But  what  is  the  consequence?  Nothing 
further  than  that  those  traditions,  in  the  times  of  Moses,  knew  no 
more  of  a  chaos  produced  by  the  fall  of  the  angels,  than  did  the 
Israelitish  tradition  itself;  that  such  knowledge  was  unknown  to 


PRIMEVAL    EARTH    AND     MAN.  239 

them  which  rebelled  against  God,  lost  their  dominion 
by  revolt,  and  were  driven  from  their  abodes  upon 
the  earth.  In  the  same  degree,  obviously,  that  the 
fallen  angels  prior  to  their  fall,  had  a  like  being  and 
destiny  with  the  rest  of  the  angels,  like  capacities, 
and  were  included  with  them  under  one  common 
idea  of  species  —  in  the  same  degree  must  the  mu- 
tual abodes  of  all  these  beings  have  been  of  a  like 
nature.  And  as  there  is  in  general  no  distinction  as 
to  species  made  between  the  former  and  the  latter,  so 
also  must  the  primeval  earth,  in  its  original  and  un- 
injured state,  have  been  in  general  and  conformably 
to  the  laws  of  classification,  similar  in  character, 
nature,  and  adaptation,  to  the  other  celestial  worlds. 
The  restitution  of  the  earth,  on  the  contrary,  w^as 
the  offspring  of  a  decree  of  the  Divine  mind,  by 
which  the  plan  with  respect  to  this  earth  w^as  to  be 
saved  from  being  subverted ;  by  means  of  which 
God  was  to  raise  a  whole  world  of  life  from  the 
floods  of  destruction  in  which  it  had  fallen,  banish 
the  destroyer  into  exile,  and  place  in  his  stead,  man, 
a  new  inhabitant  and  lord  of  the  earth.  From  this 
we  further  conclude,  that  man  has  taken  the  place 
of  Satan  and  his  angels,  to  complete  their  unper- 
formed task,  to  finish  their  discontinued  mission,  to 
restore  the  disturbed  harmony  of  the  universe,  the 

all  the  original  traditions,  as  it  could  only  arise  in  subsequent 
times,  from  tlie  combination  of  the  various  facts  of  revelation. 
Delitzsch  then  opposes  to  my  hypothesis,  one  of  his  own,  in  which 
he  pretends  to  retain  what  of  truth  belongs  to  mine,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  avoid  its  faults  and  errors.  The  most  striking  point 
in  his  hypothesis,  to  my  mind,  is  that  it  is  in  all  respects  unten- 
able. 


240        BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

marred  beauty  and  proportion  of  the  whole ;  that 
man  has  been  appointed  to  conquer  and  judge  the 
destroyer^  the  great  rebel  in  God's  universe.  "Know 
ye  not,"  says  the  Apostle  Paul,^  "that  the  saints 
shall  judge  the  world  ?  knoiv  ye  not  that  we  shall  judge 
angels  f 

Man  was  thus  placed  in  the  very  part  of  the  uni- 
verse, where  he  must  receive  the  gaze  of  all  eyes ; 
in  that  place  which  was,  perhaps,  from  its  original 
nature  and  destiny,  the  most  important  of  all  places 
in  space,  —  at  least,  from  wdiat  had  already  occurred 
there,  and  quite  as  much  from  what  is  }'et  here  to 
pass  before  the  eyes  of  a  w^ondering  Avorld,  a  place 
that  had  acquired  a  most  prominent  position,  a  sur- 
passing importance.  All  further  developments  of 
the  history  of  the  'universe  now  depended  upon  his 
behavior,  upon  his  decision  and  his  history. 

But  the  rebels  who  were  the  auj:hors  of  that  dis- 
turbance of  the  Divine  plan,  w^hicli  was  now  to  be 
allayed,  have  been  shut  out  from  their  original 
abodes,  so  far  as  the  restitution  of  the  earth  has 
given  it  a  character  not  conformable  to  their  nature 
and  modes  of  being.  Their  element  is  darkness, 
waste  and  desert  places;  hence  when  the  creative 
Avord  of  God  said:  "Let  there  be  light!"  they  fled 
hastily  away — they  fled,  when  at  the  command  of 
the  Almighty,  the  chaotic  confusion  w^as  resolved 
into  harmoniofis  order,  when  the  barren  and  lifeless 
wastes  were  made  to  teem  with  new  and  happy  life. 

But  since  the  beginning,  indeed,  of  the  new  de- 
velopment in  the  world,  has  been  brought  about,  but 

'  1  Cor.  6  :  2,  3. 


PRIMEVAL     EARTH     AND     IM  A  N .  241 

not  its  absolute  completion,  the  fiillen  angels  still 
remain  a  power  not  fully  subdued.  IdeAlly  (by  the 
decree  of  God)  they  may  be  fully  vanquished,  but 
not  really  (by  the  act  of  man).  They  have  been 
driven  from  their  original  habitations,  their  province 
has  been  given  to  another  lord ;  but  their  claims  to 
it,  though  in  themselves  futile,  may  still  be  annoy- 
ingly  pressed,  until  their  worthlessness  is  fully  ex- 
posed ;  until  the  voice  of  history  proclaims  that  their 
whole  project  has  resulted  in  a  most  signal  failure; 
until  they  receive,  after  the  purifying  fires  of  the  last 
judgment,^  all  that  properly  belongs  to  them  —  the 
dross  that  remains  —  and  be  consio^ned  with  their 
possessions  to  the  prison  of  hell,  whose  adamantine 
walls  stand  ever  firm.^ 

Their  interest  in  the  affairs  of  earth,  their  hostility 
toward  man,  to  whom  the  province  they  have  lost, 
but  still  claim,  has  been  presented ;  and  who  has  been 
called  to  bring  about  that  judgment^  over  them  to 
which  they  have  already,  in  idea,  been  subjected, — 
may  all  be  satisfactorily  accounted  for  from  our 
present  stand-point.  From  hence  we  see  in  its  pro- 
per light,  the  significance  of  the  earth,  as  the  histo- 
rical central-point  of  the  universe,  where  the  great 
contest  between  good  and  evil  is  to  take  place,  where 
the  pending  fate  of  worlds  is  to  be  decided :  from 
hence  we  can  see  how  the  whole  universe  may  not 
be  brought  into  its  most  perfect  state,  until  the  earth 
has  been  recovered  and  perfected.  ISTo  longer  does 
th^  intimate  connection  between  heaven  and  earth, 
everywhere  pre-supposed  in  Scripture,  appear  as  an 

'  2  Pet.  3  :  10.  ^  Eev.  20  :  9,  10.  »  1  Cor.  6  :  3. 

2X 


242       BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

inexplicable  mystery:  no  longer  does  it  appear  as 
the  result  of  mere  accident  or  arbitrary  appointment, 
that  the  earth  has  become  the  central-point  of  the 
universe,  the  theatre  of  the  most  glorious  manifesta- 
tions of  Deity,  yea,  even  of  the  Incarnation  of  the 
Son  of  God.  Here,  too,  may  we  discover  how  the 
incarnation  may  result  to  the  benefit,  not  of  our  poor 
earth  alone,  but  of  the  whole  universe. 

§  26.   Continuation. 

Enriched  with  the  knowledge  we  have  now  ac- 
quired, we  shall  once  more  take  into  consideration 
the  Biblical  account  of  the  fall  of  man,^  hoping  that 
we  may  now  be  able  to  gain  a  more  profound  in- 
sight into  this  disastrous  affair,  than  previously, 
when  we  had  to  examine  it  as  a  mere  fact,  standing 
altoirether  on  its  own  merits. 

iSTor  does  our  hope  disappoint  us.  Not  only  does 
the  temptation,  in  its  form,  manner,  and  substance, 
now  appear  in  a  much  clearer  light ;  but  no  less  does 
the  grand  mystery  of  the  whole  affair — the  tree  of 
knowledge,  and  the  serpent — one  of  them  the  basis, 
and  the  other  the  instrument  of  the  temptation  — 
become  more  intelligible  to  our  minds. 

It  was  necessary  that  man,  in  the  capacity  of  a 
free  creature,  and  hence,  standing  in  need  of  self- 
determination  and  self-development,  should  be  placed 
in  a  state  of  probation,  should  be  placed  on  trial  — 
this  is  obvious  from  the  outset.  But  it  is  not  so  ob- 
vious, why  his  trial  took  the  form  of  a  temptation; 
why  the  Divine  will,  which  was  to  offer  an  occasion 

»  Gen.  3. 


PRIMEVAL    EARTH    AND    MAN.  243 

for  the  decision  of  man,  expressed  itself,  not  in  a 
'positive,  but  in  a  negative  injunction  ;  not  in  a  com- 
mand, but  in  a  prohihitio7i. 

Arbitrary  will  is  not  conceivable  on  the  part  of 
God,  least  of  all,  as  manifesting  itself  when  he  deals 
with  personal,  spiritual  beings.  It  must  therefore 
have  been  necessary  from  the  position  of  man  itself, 
that  his  trial  should  be  effected  in  connection  with  a 
proJiibition,  and  not  a  command.  A  prohibition  pre- 
supposes the  existence  of  evil,  be  it  in  the  subject  to 
whom  any  thing  is  forbidden,  or  be  it  in  the  for- 
bidden object.  But,  in  the  present  case,  it  could  not 
be  that  evil  already  existed  in  man,  the  subject  on 
trial ;  partly,  because  he  still  remained  in  the  unde- 
veloped condition  in  which  he  was  originally  created, 
and  partly,  because,  had  the  case  been  otherwise, 
his  trial  would  have  been  both  unnecessary  and 
inadmissible.  The  evil  must  therefore  have  existed 
outside  of  man.  Yet  was  everything  that  God 
had  made,  in  and  upon  the  earth,  good,  '■'very  good.''^ 
"Whence,  then,  this  evil  ? 

The  tree  of  knowledge  (compare  §  12)  was  a  tree 
of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  not  merely  of 
good  OR  evil ;  and  man  was,  in  either  case,  by  par- 
taking of  or  refraining  from  its  fruits,  to  attain  to  a 
knowledge  of  both  good  and  evil.  Had  evil  not 
been  in  existence,  however,  man,  in  case  he  decided 
conformably  to  the  Divine  will,  could  not  have  at- 
tained to  the  knowledge  of  evil ;  for  to  have  know- 
ledge of  what  does  not  exist,  is  a  contradiction  in 
terms.    And  wherein  lay  the  necessity  that  he  should, 

»  Gen.  1  :  31. 


244        BIBLICAL    TnEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

in  eitlier  case,  attain  to  tlie  knowledge  of  that  evil 
which  already  existed,  which,  nevertheless,  existed 
only  without  his  own  being,  yea  even  as  it  would 
appear,  wholly  without  the  sphere  of  his  activity — 
for  all  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  was  good,  "veiy 
good?" 

God  had  caused  the  tree  of  knowledge,  just  as  the 
other  trees,  to  grow  in  the  garden  of  Eden. ^  "Where- 
fore, then,  did  he  bid  man  to  beware  of  His  own 
work?  Ah!  that  tree  was  a  tree  of  death;  for  man 
would  become  the  child  of  death,  the  moment  he 
should  taste  of  it,'-^ — and  still  it  was  necessary,  useful, 
and  indispensable,  although  man  was  destined,  not 
for  death,  but  for  life.  The  tree  was  good,  for  God 
had  created  it ;  and  still  it  was,  at  the  same  time, 
pernicious,  for  it  was  capable  of  bringing  death  upon 
man.     How  is  this  to  be  explained  ? 

Crod  tempts  no  man  to  evil,^  yet  still,  the  trial  of 
man  amounted  to  a  temptation^  and  indeed,  as  we 
see  at  the  first  glance,  a  direct  temptation  to  evil.  It 
is  not  possible,  however,  that  God  should  have  sug- 
gested and  occasioned  the  machinations  of  the  ser- 
pent. !N"ay  rather,  the  tempter  derived  the  occasion 
for  them  and  the  impulse  toward  them,  from  his 
own  depraved  heart.  The  co-operation  of  God  may 
only  be  regarded  as  a  permission  recognizing  the 
necessity  of  the  temptation,  and,  in  so  far,  favoring 
its  occurrence.  But  what  were  the  grounds  of  this 
necessity?  "What  special  object  had  the  tempter  in 
making  man  the  object  of  his  wiles?  what  impelled 
him  to  entice  man  into  destruction?     Had  it  been 

'  Gen.  2:9.  «  Qen.  2  :  17.  "  James  1  :  13. 


PRIMEVAL    EARTH    AND    MAN.  245 

merely  tlie  general  base  desire  of  ''the  evil  one,"  to 
have  companions  in  guilt,  to  drag  others  down  to 
those  depths  of  woe  into  which  himself  w^as  fallen ; 
without  any  further  reasons,  without  believing  that 
he  stood  in  a  special  relation  to  man,  it  is  wholly 
inconceivable  that  God  should  have  not  only  per- 
mitted him  to  display  such  base  passions,  but  also 
have  opened  the  way  for  their  successful  employ- 
ment. 

But  all  these  and  similar  difficulties  find  a  ready 
solution  in  the  fact,  that  the  fallen  angels  were  the 
previous  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  and  that  the  earth, 
which  was  laid  waste  in  consequence  of  their  fall, 
has  since  been  restored  through  the  grace  and  might 
of  God,  and  assigned  to  man  as  a  place  of  abode 
and  spiritual  training. 

It  now  becomes  obvious  what  a  special  object 
Satan  had  in  enlisting  all  his  powers,  to  allure  man 
to  revolt  from  God,  to  trample  upon  his  origiual 
destiny,  and  rush  headlong  into  destruction.  His 
motive  was  natural  enmity,  profound  hate,  envy, 
WTath  and  revenge,  toward  the  new  aspirant,  the 
favored  rival  who  had  received  the  habitation  he 
himself  had  forfeited,  the  empire  he  had  lost ;  against 
him  to  whom  all  the  glory  and  blessedness  he  him- 
self has  lost,  is  to  be  given,  and  who  is  to  sit  over  him 
in  that  judgment  which  is  to  consign  him  to  the  most 
fearful  doom.  His  were  the  spasmodic  efforts  of 
despair,  the  utmost  endeavors  where  all  was  at  stake ; 
his  was  the  delusive  hope  of  again  getting  possession 
of  the  lost  inheritance,  and  of  escaping  completely 
21  * 


246        BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

the  great  judgment,  for  which  he  is  now  reserved  iu 
everlasting  chains  under  darkness.^ 

We  now  discover  how^  Divine  wisdom  and  justice 
might,  and  necessarily  should,  permit,  desire,  and 
bring  about  the  temptation — yea,  even  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  the  fall  was  foreseen.  God  had  ap- 
pointed man  as  the  possessor  and  ruler  of  the  earth, 
as  the  restorer  of  the  disturbed  harmony  of  a  uni- 
verse, as  the  leader  in  the  great  and  sacred  contest 
of  created  spirits  which  was  inflamed  by  the  fall  of 
the  angels,  and  as  the  conqueror  and  final  judge  of 
those  first  rebels.  But  it  was  necessary  that  man,  as 
a  free,  personal  creature,  should  make  his  divine 
calling  his  own,  by  an  act  of  his  own  free  choice ; 
that  he  should  acquire  the  position  to  which  he  was 
appointed,  by  his  owm  vigorous  efibrts ;  that  he 
should  earn  his  right  to  the  possession  of  the  heirless 
inheritance,  and  to  the  high  office  of  being  a  judge 
over  the  rebels.  He  possessed  the  power  also,  in  the 
capacity  of  a  free  moral  agent,  of  forming  an  alli- 
ance with  the  great  enemy  of  God,  and,  like  him,  of 
attacking  the  throne  of  God,  instead  of  falling  in 
with  the  Divine  will  and  appointment.  God  is  just, 
also,  even  towards  Satan  himself,  and  did  not  desire 
or  attempt  to  prevent  him  from  employing  all  the 
resources  that  he  w^as  possessed  of,  in  order  to  main- 
tain his  stand  in  opposition  to  Deity.  He  may  not 
and  shall  not  receive  his  final  doom,  until  he  has 
tried  every  possible  expedient  to  regain  his  former 
footing,  in  vain ;  until  he  has  become  fully  conscious 

1  Jude  6. 


PRIMEVAL     EARTH    AND    MAN.  247 

of  utter  and  miserable  weakness,  which  indeed  un- 
derlies all  his  apparent  conquests. 

It  may  now  be  further  seen  why  it  was  necessary 
that  the  trial  of  man's  self-determination  should  ap- 
pear under  the  form  of  a  temptation ;  why  man  was 
to  maintain  his  first  estate,  not  primarily  in  the 
observance  of  a  command,  but  in  avoiding  what  was 
forbidden.  As  evil  was  already  in  existence,  and  as 
man  could  by  no  means  remain  indifiFerent  towards 
it,  but  rather,  his  position,  his  whole  existence,  mis- 
sion and  destiny  were  directed  against  it,  he  must, 
before  all  others,  by  the  exercise  of  his  free  choice, 
place  himself  in  a  determinate  relation  to  it. 

Finally,  that  strange  contradiction  is  now  also  ex- 
plained— that  the  tree  of  knowledge  should  have 
been  created  by  God,  and  still  be  a  tree  of  death  and 
destruction ;  also,  that  Satan,  after  he  had  forfeited 
this  earthly  province,  should  have  obtained  a  lodg- 
ment and  a  basis  of  operation  in  the  tree  of  know- 
ledge— that  he  should  there  have  been  permitted  to 
try  his  hand  at  the  overthrow  of  man.  Although 
God  had  caused  this  tree  to  grow  in  the  garden,  there 
must  have  existed  between  it  and  Satan,  some  mys- 
terious relation  ;  there  must  have  existed  in  it  some- 
thing of  a  Satanic  nature,  something  that  was  related 
to  and  belonged  to  the  great  deceiver,  something  to 
which  he  might  yet  cling,  and  which  he  might  call 
his  own. 

This  may  readily  be  discovered.  Death  and  ruin, 
as  cosmical  agencies,  were  brought  into  the  primeval 
earth,  through  the  revolt  of  Satan;  the  earth  was 
made  a  "tohu  va  bohu."    God,  by  the  six  days'  work, 


248        BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

implanted  new  cosmical  powers  of  life  in  the  earth 
which  had  been  laid  waste,  and  caused  them  to  be 
unfolded  in  fitting  forms.  Man  was  then  placed 
between  the  two,  between  good  and  evil,  between 
life  and  death.  Both  were  presented  to  his  choice 
by  his  Creator  —  he  had  but  to  speak  the  word,  and 
the  decision  was  made.  The  cosmical  good  which 
God  had  brought  in  by  means  of  a  re-creation,  was 
concentrated  in  the  tree  of  life :  the  cosmical  evil 
which  originated  in  Satan,  was  concentrated  in  the 
tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  —  but  not 
without  its  being  surrounded  by  the  wholesome  ad- 
monitions and  threatenings  of  God,  as  a  barrier 
against  all  approach.  3Ioral  good  or  moral  evil 
would  be  engendered  in  man,  according  to  the  posi- 
tion he  should  freely  take  with  respect  to  cosmical 
good  and  evil  respectively,  admonished  on  the  one 
hand  by  God,  and  allured  on  the  other  by  Satan. 

But  the  serpent?  Here  is  a  mystery  of  the  pri- 
meval world  which  we  shall  not  attempt  fully  to 
unravel.  But  the  substance  of  the  whole  mystery, 
in  a  practical  point  of  view,  is  obvious, — we  know 
the  nature,  the  motives,  the  leanings,  designs  and 
objects  of  the  personal,  spiritual  principle,  which 
wrought  in  or  through  the  serpent.  It  is  merely  the 
connection  between  the  bodily  manifestation  and  the 
spiritual  principle,  which  remains  unravelled,  unex- 
plained. We  may,  perhaps,  apprehend  it  according 
to  the  analogy  of  the  tree  of  knowledge,  as  explained 
above — that  Satan,  the  serpent,  and  the  tree,  belong 
together,  as  personal,  animal,  and  vegetable  forms 
of  concentrated  evil,  as   embodiments  of  that  evil 


PRESENT    PLACE    OF   FALLEN   ANGELS.       249 

which  sprung  from  the  fall  of  the  angels,  was  held 
in  check  by  God,  and  should  have  been  vanquished 
and  doomed  by  man. 

Man  in  the  beginning  of  his  history  was  designed 
to  do  that  which  can  now  be  effected  by  the  seed  of 
the  woman  only  in  the  fulness  of  times — to  bruise 
the  head  of  the  serpent.  This  he  might  have  effected 
by  obedience  to  the  Divine  commands,  by  repelling 
the  tempter,  by  disregarding  and  resisting  his  crafty 
wiles  and  imposing  offers.  The  serpent  and  the  tree 
w^ere  the  last  relics  of  Satanic  possessions  upon  tlie 
renewed  earth.  The  sway  of  the  "tohu  va  bohu" 
Avas  already  broken  and  held  in  check  by  creative 
might.  The  serpent  and  the  tree,  its  last  evidences, 
were  to  be  overcome  and  banished  from  the  earth  by 
man  himself.  They  were  the  last,  the  only  footholds 
of  Satan  upon  the  new  earth ;  the  only  possessions 
he  could  still  call  his  own.  Satan  himself  would 
have  been  vanquished  and  banished  from  the  earth, 
so  soon  as  they  were  overcome ;  and  the  task  of 
man,  "  to  dress  and  keep  the  garden  in  Eden,"  would 
be  reduced  to  the  mere  dressing  of  it. 

§  27.   The  present  Place  of  the  Fallen  Angels. 

This  is  a  point  of  enough  significance  in  a  repre- 
sentation of  the  Biblical  theory  of  the  world,  to 
claim  our  serious  attention  for  a  while. 

As  created  beings,  subject  to  the  bounds  and  limi- 
tations which  belong  to  all  that  is  finite,  the  fallen 
angels  must  necessarily  dwell  somewhere  in  space. 
There  must  be  somewhere  within  the  wide  realm  of 
space,  a  place  which  serves  as  a  dwelling-place  for 


250        BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WOBLD. 

them,  and  conforms  to  their  present  condition.     But 
where  is  this  place  to  he  found  ? 

In  our  attempts  to  answer  this  question,  we  must, 
in  order  to  guard  ourselves  against  misapprehensions 
or  one-sided  views,  ever  keep  in  mind,  that  the  fallen 
angels  are  spirits  in  precisely  the  same  sense  as  are 
their  former  companions  (§  18)  who  still  preserve 
their  allegiance  to  God  —  that  they  have  hodies, 
spiritual  bodies,^  but  not  bodies  of  flesh  and  hlood  — 

'J.  P.  Lange  {Dogm.  p.  571,)  would  look  upon  the  demons  as 
a  "host  of  disembodied  spirits."  I  cannot  agree  with  him.  The 
sacred  Scriptures  do  not  contain  the  least  intimation  in  favor  of 
such  a  view.  In  accordance  with  the  analogy  of  human  nature, 
Lange  would  look  upon  death  as  the  wages  of  sin  obtaining  in 
the  angelic  world  also,  as  a  law  of  nature.  But  this  supposition 
appears  to  me,  not  only  incompetent,  but  as  in  all  respects  inad- 
missible. It  is  clear  that  it  is  far  from  being  justified  by  Scrip- 
ture. The  fundamental  differences  between  the  human  and 
angelic  natures,  as  taught  by  Sacred  Writ,  forbid  us  to  draw  any 
such  conclusion.  In  all  that  the  Bible  says  about  the  nature  of 
the  angels  in  general,  and  the  condition  of  the  fallen  angels  in 
particular,  it  excludes  the  idea  that 2y^il/sical  or  todily  death  ever 
obtains  in  the  sphere  of  angelic  being.  The  words  :  "  The  wages 
of  sin  is  death,"  so  far  as  they  represent  a  necessary  and  univer- 
sal principle,  must  certainly  apply  in  the  case  of  the  angels  also ; 
but  we  can  conceive,  in  respect  to  these  beings  as  spirits,  only  spiri- 
tual or  eternal  death.  Physical  or  corporeal  death  is  not  to  be 
imagined  in  the  case  of  spirits,  whose  corporeal  constitution  is 
from  the  outset  of  a  spiritual  (pneumatic)  nature.  Man  is  capa- 
ble of  physical  death,  because  his  corporeal  nature  is  of  a  fleshly 
character,  and  shall  remain  thus  subject  to  death,  until  his  body 
is  in  the  future  endowed  with  the  spiritual  (pneumatic)  character. 
But  the  angels,  whose  bodies  were  originally,  at  the  creation,  en- 
dowed with  a  pneumatic  character,  are  not  capable  of  physical 
death.  We  are  led  to  the  same  conclusion  from  a  proper  considera- 
tion of  the  significant  fact,  that  the  angels  are  by  nature  devoid  of 


PRESENT  PLACE  OF  FALLEN  ANGELS.   251 

and  that  they  move  in  the  nnblest  sphere  which  has 
been  allotted  to  them,  with  the  same  ease,  rapidity  and 
freedom,  as  do  the  good  angels,  in  conformity  to  their 
nature,  in  their  own  glorious  and  heavenly  abodes. 
David  Strauss  has  attempted  to  cast  the  reproach 
upon  the  Holy  Scriptures,  that  their  ideas  respecting 
the  jDresent  condition  and  the  abode  of  the  demons, 
cannot  possibly  be  harmonized  !  ^'  Christ  beheld 
Satan  falling  as  lightning  from  heaven  ;^  but,  ac- 
cording to  the  Apocalypse,^  this  fall  of  Satan  is  to 
take  place  only  in  the  future ;  according  to  2d  Pet. 
2  :  4,  and  Jude  6,  the  fallen  angels  are  bound  with 
chains,  in  the  darkness  of  the  lower  world,  reserved 
unto  the  judgment ;  according  to  Eph.  2  :  2,  and 
6  :  12,  they  inhabit  the  air,  and  according  to  1st  Pet. 
5  :  8,  the  devil  goeth  about  (at  liberty)  as  a  roaring 

sex,  with  its  predicates  of  generation  and  birth.  The  like  con- 
clusion must  be  arrived  at  "  a  posteriori/'  from  the  fact  that  the 
fallen  angels  are  not  capable  of  redemption,  when  we  reflect  that 
physical  death,  as  the  wages  of  human  sin,  is  not  prirelf/  a  curse, 
but  a  curse  conditioned  no  less  by  the  Divine  counsel  of  salvation 
than  by  human  sin  —  that  it  is  at  the  same  time  a  cui^se  and  a 
blessing,  for  without  the  intervention  of  death  man  could  not  have 
been  provided  with  salvation,  or  redeemed  (|  16).  The  analogy 
between  the  human  and  angelic  natures,  which  is  supplied  by 
Matt.  22  :  30,  and  1st  Cor.  15,  (f  18),  rests  upon  the  juxtaposition 
of  the  bodies  of  the  angels,  as  due  to  the  creation,  and  the  bodies 
of  men  as  due  to  the  resurrection.  If  we  desire  to  draw  any  in- 
ference from  this  analogy,  it  can  only  legitimately  be  this  one, 
that  the  corporeal  nature  of  the  angels  since  their  fall,  corresponds 
(as  the  wages  of  their  sin)  to  that  corporeal  constitution  wicked 
men  shall  receive  in  the  resurrection  of  the  great  clay  (John  5  :  29) 
—  an  evidence,  in  the  one  case  just  as  in  the  other,  of  the  impos- 
sibility of  salvation. 

»  Luke  10  :  18.  2  r^v.  12  :  9. 


252        BIBLICAL     THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

lion."  lie  might  have  added  that,  according  to 
Matt.  12  :  43,  waste  places,  and  Luke  8  :  31,  the 
abyss,  is  their  place  of  abode;  while  according  to 
the  Book  of  Job,  Satan  appears  in  the  midst  of  the 
sons  of  God,  before  the  throne  of  the  Lord  in  heaven. 

We  shall  first  explain  the  pretended  incongruity, 
that  Satan  and  his  companions  should  on  the  one 
hand  be  represented  as  dwelling  in  heaven,  and  on 
the  other,  as  cast  out  from  thence. 

The  whole  contradiction,  however  apparent  it  be, 
rests  upon  the  fact  that  the  w^ord  "heaven"  is  used 
in  several  more  or  less  restricted  or  specific  senses, 
but  all  related  and  referring  to  each  other,  of  which 
sometimes  one  and  sometimes  another  is  applied, 
and  is  to  be  understood  according  to  the  sense  and 
connection  of  the  discourse. 

The  word  heaven,  first  of  all  (§  24)  designates  the 
great  canopy  spread  abroad  above  the  earth,  and 
enclosing  it  on  all  sides.  Thus  the  first  idea  of  the 
word  is  a  physical  one :  the  idea  of  locality.  The 
use  of  the  word  in  a  plural  sense,  which  prevails  in 
Scripture,  is  of  itself  sufficient  to  show  that  the 
locality  which  is  called  heaven,  is  regarded  as  com- 
prehending several  varied  divisions.  We  have  first, 
the  heavens  composed  of  the  terrestrial  atmosphere; 
and  in  conformity  to  this  sense  of  the  word,  the 
Bible,  as  do  all  nations  and  all  tongues,  speaks  of  the 
fowls  of  heaven,  the  reddening  of  the  heavens,  &c. 
According  to  common,  every-day  views  and  modes 
of  expression,  as  well  as  according  to  the  natural 
appearance  to  the  eye,  all  regions  of  space  lying  be- 
yond our  atmosphere  coincide;  as,  for  example,  Gen. 


PRESENT  PLACE  OF  FALLEN  ANGELS.   253 

1 :  8.  But,  where  the  object  is  to  bring  heaven  and 
earth  into  strong  and  distinct  contrast,  the  starry 
heavens,  which  are  strictly  opposed  to  the  earth,  are 
clearly  distinguished  from  the  atmospheric  heavens, 
which  still  belong,  physically  speaking,  to  the  earth. 
The  former  are  meant  by  the  Scriptures,  when  they 
mention  the  heavenly  hosts,  whether  they  be  speak- 
ing of  the  stars  or  the  hosts  of  the  angels. 

But  the  word  heaven  does  not  designate  merely  a 
locality,  but  also  a  condition  corresponding  to  this 
locality.  Thus  there  is  connected  with  the  physical 
idea  of  heaven,  also  a  symbolic  and  ethical  idea  of 
the  same  place.  The  ethical  idea  arises  on  the  one 
hand,  from  the  exaltation  of  heaven  above  the  earth, 
and  hence  excludes  the  lowliness,  weakness  and 
poverty  which  prevail  everywhere  upon  the  earth ; 
and  springs,  on  the  other  hand,  from  the  conceptions 
we  have  of  the  inhabitants  of  heaven  —  God  and  his 
holy  angels  —  and  includes  the  idea  of  a  supra-mun- 
dane Divine  glory  and  blessedness. 

The  symbolic  idea  of  heaven,  also,  arises  from  the 
high,  the  exalted  character  of  that  place.  The  high, 
the  sublime,  is,  in  and  of  itself,  that  which  ever  bears 
sway  and  controls.  The  heaven  or  heavens  sur- 
round the  earth  on  all  sides,  control  it,  give  it  rains 
and  fruitful  seasons,  but  also  visit  upon  it  the  chas- 
tisements and  judgments  of  an  ofiended  God.  Thus 
in  symbolic  language,  heaven  represents  a  power 
which  controls  and  governs  all  that  is  earthly. 

The  words  of  Christ  concerning  the  falling  of 
Satan,  and  also  the  words  of  the  Apocalypse  touch- 
ing his  ejectment  from  heaven,  are  to  be  understood 
22 


254        BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

in  this  last  sense  —  on  the  principle  of  symbolic 
representation.  Both  ^^assages  express  the  loss  of  his 
power,  his  lordly  dominion.  This  is  demanded  by 
the  connection  in  both  places,  and  no  less,  by  the 
prophetico-scenic  character  of  the  description.  This 
is  the  only  possible  signification  to  give  to  the  word 
heaven  in  this  place,  as  will  be  allowed  by  every 
honest  mind,  by  all  but  those  who  fear  not  to  tamper 
with  Scripture.  That  the  two  passages  contradict 
each  other,  in  one  representing  as  past  what  the  other 
says  shall  take  place  in  the  future,  no  well-informed 
and  discernino;  mind  can  believe.  It  is  clear  that 
the  w^ords  of  our  Lord  may  be  easily  explained, 
whether  they  refer  to  the  first  revolt  and  fall  of  Satan, 
or  to  his  subjugation  which  was  now  being  accom- 
plished through  the  disciples,  to  whom  the  Lord  had 
given  power  over  his  kingdom,  or  finally,  to  the 
doom  of  this  powerful  spirit  of  evil,  foreseen  as  tak- 
ing place  at  the  judgment  of  the  last  day. 

Further,  though  the  Book  of  Job  represents  Satan 
as  appearing  among  the  sons  of  God,  before  the 
throne  in  heaven,  it  by  no  means  follows  that  we  are 
to  suppose  he  dwells  in  heaven,  and  among  the  sons 
of  God.  If  we  strip  the  scene  of  its  poetical  cloth- 
ing, nothing  remains  but  the  mere  fact  that  Satan, 
at  least  at  that  time,  had  still  the  right  and  the  power 
to  accuse  man  before  his  Creator,  and,  to  the  extent 
of  Divine  permission,  also  to  tempt  and  injure  him. 
But  this  view  agrees  well  with  what  is  said  in  other 
books  of  Scripture.^  The  Book  of  Job  does  not 
speak  in  general  of  the  abode  of  Satan  at  all. 

^  Compare,  for  example,  Luke  22  :  31 ;  Rev.  12  :  10,  etc. 


-PRESENT    PLACE    OF    FALLEN    ANGELS.      255 

Again,  let  us  now  consider  the  passage,  Eph.  6  :  12. 
*'For  we  wrestle  not,"  says  the  Apostle,  "against 
flesh  and  blood  (against  feeble,  powerless  men),  but 
against  principalities,  against  powers,  against  the 
rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this  world,  against  spiritual 
wickedness  in  high  places  (sv  toTs  iitovpaviois)."  The 
Apostle  does  not  say  distinctly,  "in  heaven;"  he 
chooses,  and  with  evident  design,  a  less  determinate 
expression.  But  had  he  used  the  words  "in  heaven," 
his  meaning  would  have  been  nothing  different ;  it 
might,  indeed,  have  been  more  exposed  to  misappre- 
hension. 

But  what  does  the  Apostle  mean  by  saying  that 
evil  spirits  dwell  in  heaven,  or  in  heavenly/ places? 
Are  we  to  apprehend  this  expression  as  having  a 
local,  an  ethical,  or  a  symbolic  meaning? 

Certainly  not  as  having  an  ethical  one.  It  is  Avholly 
out  of  the  question  that  the  Apostle  should  have 
intended  to  represent  those  spirits  of  evil,  the  rulers 
in  the  darkness  of  this  world,  as  happy,  as  blessed 
beings,  from  the  relation  in  which  he  places  them 
toward  heaven. 

But  is  the  expression  symbolic?  —  does  it  denote 
their  dominion  over  the  earth,  their  controlling  power 
over  men?^  The  connection  appears,  at  the  first 
glance,  strikingly  in  favor  of  such  an  interpretation. 
But  we  very  soon  discover  how  inadmissible  a  sym- 
bolic interpretation  would  be.  AYe  are  allowed  and 
compelled  to  apprehend  the  expressions  used  in  Luke 

'  Thus  Ilengstenbcrg  [Die  Offenharung  Johannis,  I.  619),  who 
would  explain  this  passage  precisely  according  to  the  analogy  of 
Luke  10  :  18,  and  Rev.  12  :  9. 


256  BIBLICAL     THEORY    OF     THE    WORLD. 

10  :  18,  and  Rev.  12  :  9,  symbolically,  from  the  pro- 
phetico-sceuic  character  of  the  descriptions  them- 
selves. But  here  tlie  case  is  wholly  different.  We 
have  no  warrant  for  interpreting  this  expression  aside 
from  its  direct  literal  sense,  or  symbollically.  Be- 
sides, such  an  interpretation  would  give  rise  to  a 
tautology,  such  as  could  only  be  made  endurable  or 
not  apparent,  by  regarding  heaven  not  as  the  mere 
ideal  symbol  of  might,  but  as  the  real  place  where  it 
is  collected  and  treasured  up.  This  would  be  pur- 
suing the  thought,  at  least ;  —  but  we  should  find 
ourselves  already  passed  over  from  the  purely  sym- 
bolic apprehension,  to  the  local  one. 

Every  consideration,  therefore,  leads  us  to  regard 
the  local  apprehension  of  the  expression  as  the  only 
correct  one. — But  it  may  now  be  asked,  are  we  to 
understand  it  as  referring  to  the  lower  heavens,  the 
terrestrial  the  atmospheric,  heavens ;  or  to  the  upper 
heavens,  the  heaven  of  the  stars  and  the  angels  ?  — 
Certainly  not  to  the  upper  heaven,  because  that  is 
the  abode  of  the  holy  angels,  and  to  dwell  there  is 
nothing  short  of  dwelling  in  the  midst  of  thb  most 
perfect  blessedness. 

It  is  objected  that  the  same  Apostle,  in  the  same 
epistle,  uses  the  same  expression  (iv  Tor^  e-Troupavroij:), 
wdien  speaking  of  Christ  sitting  at  the  right  hand  of 
God,^  and  of  the  dwelling-place  of  the  holy  angels. 
But,  if  it  be  granted  that  the  word  heaven  is  used  in 
common  language  in  a  twofold  sense,  it  is  surely  no 
valid  objection  to  say  that  the  same  writer  would  not 
have  used  the  word,  now  in  this  and  now  in  that 

^Eph.  1:20;'2:G. 


PRESENT  PLACE  OF  FALLEN  ANGELS.   257 

sense,  according  to  the  demands  of  the  case.  Thus, 
when  Christ  in  one  place  speaks  of  his  Father  in 
heaven,  and  of  the  angels  of  God  in  heaven,  and  in 
another  place,  of  the  fowls  of  heaven  and  of  the 
heavens  becoming  red,  no  one  would  attempt  to 
convict  us  of  false  or  arbitrary  exegesis,  should  we 
in  one  place  refer  his  words  to  the  atmospheric  ter- 
restrial heavens,  and  in  the  other,  to  the  abodes  of 
the  blessed,  far  beyond  the  earth. 

Hence,  the  words  of  the  Apostle  in  Eph.  6 :  12, 
were  designed  to  convey  this  meaning  and  none 
other,  that  the  abodes  of  the  evil  spirits  are  to  be 
found  in  the  atmospheric  heavens,  however  strange 
such  a  view  may  appear  at  the  first  glance. 

And  the  correctness  of  this  interpretation  is  proved 
by  the  fact  that  the  Apostle  had  beforehand,  in  the 
same  Epistle^  expressly  called  Satan,  ''  the  prince  of  the 
poiverofthe  air{'rb\j  ap;)^cvTa  ttjc:  ilov(!ms  ToiJ  aipoj),  the  spirit 
that  now  worketh  in  the  children  of  disobedience." 

All  attempts,  even  the  most  recent,^  to  explain 
away  the  view  contained  in  these  words,  that  Satan 

'  Eph.  2  :  2. 

2  Ilofmann  [Sclirifthew,  I.  402  seq.)  regards  tov  rtvsvf.iatoi  as  in 
apposition  to  dspoj.  He  holds  that  the  Apostle  called  the  "  spirit 
that  worketh  in  the  children  of  disobedience,"  contemptuously, 
"dj^p,"  and  afterwards  explained  himself  by  the  term  "Ttvfuua." 
And  that  this  could  the  more  easily  be  done,  as  d>^p  and  nvsvy-a 
are  ideas  of  similar  etymological  signification.  But  as  the  use  of 
the  word  dj;p  (air,  atmosphere,  etc.)  is  constant  and  determinate 
without  exception,  so  that  it  never  signifies  breath,  tvind,  to  say 
nothing  of  its  being  used  figuratively  in  the  sense  of  spirit ;  as, 
furthei-,  the  etymological  signification  of  the  word  Ttrevixa  [ivind, 
breath)  is  so  little  observed  in  the  language  of  the  New  Testament, 

99  =i^ 


258        BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

and  his  legions  dwell  in  the  air,  have  signally  failed. 
They  have  all  been  frustrated  by  the  incontestable 
fact  that  the  word  "  aiV  "  (dijp),  cannot  denote  any- 
thing else  than  the  air  which  surrounds  the  earth, 

that  no  one  should  think  of  attending  to  it  in  the  course  of  read- 
ing, unless  in  a  ease  such  as  John  3  :  8,  where  the  context  clearly 
indicates  that  we  must  take  the  word  in  its  literal  and  .etymolo- 
gical significance  ;  and  as,  finally,  the  genitive  toi  Tivsvixato^  ap- 
plies freely  and  without  constraint  to  the  whole  conception,  rrji 
flouoiaj  tov  a£po$  (so  that  it  stands  in  apposition  to  the  chief  and 
governing  genitive  trjs  stovoio^,  and  not  to  the  subordinate  and 
unimportant  genitive  -tov  a£po$) — as  all  this  is  plain  to  the  mind 
of  the  reader,  it  is  clear  that  we  cannot  but  understand  thex\postle 
to  speak  of  Satan  and  his  powers  dwelling  in  the  air.  In  addi- 
tion, we  have  the  fact  that  the  same  view  signally  prevailed  in  the 
minds  of  the  Jewish  Rabbis  (comp.  Meyer).  The  Apostle,  who 
was  educated  under  the  care  of  these  men,  could  not  have  written 
the  words  stovaia  'tov  dipoj,  without  calling  to  mind  the  rabbinic 
view  on  the  matter  he  Avas  discussing.  If  he  regarded  the  view 
a  false  one,  he  certainly  should  so  have  chosen  his  words  as  to 
exclude  it  altogether  from  his  own  writings.  But  his  words  in 
reality  contain  an  express  acknowledgment  of  that  view.  It  is 
the  more  striking  that  Hofmann  wholly  ignores  this  fact,  since 
he  concedes  to  the  book  of  Enoch,  which  is  nothing  better  than 
the  rabbinic  legends,  such  an  important  influence  upon  the  Epistle 
of  Jude,  and  the  Second  Epistle  of  Peter.  The  two  cases  are  pre- 
cisely analogous.  Just  as  Peter  and  Jude  drew  from  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  book  of  Enoch,  only  what  they  knew  to  be  true, 
passing  by  all  its  fables  and  puerilities,  so  also  Paul,  under  the 
guidance  of  the  Spirit,  as  they  were,  retained  and  made  use  of 
only  such  facts  due  to  his  rabbinic  training,as  stood  the  test  of 
the  Spirit  of  AVisdom  from  above.  "  Thus  much,"  says  Meyer, 
"  is  clear  enough,  amid  the  confused  trash  of  rabbinic  traditions, 
that  the  province  of  the  demons  is,  according  to  these  sages,  in 
the  air  :  and  we  find  the  Apostle  Paul  agreeing  with  them.  Hence 
we  have  no  right  to  deny  that  he  may  have  received  this  idea  in 
and  afterwards  made  use  of  it  in  his 


PRESENT  PLACE  OF  FALLEN  ANGELS.   259 

the  atmosphere,  the  region  of  the  clouds,  the  lower 
stratum  of  the  air  (in  opposition  to  the  ether,  as  the 
upper  and  purer  air  of  heaven) :  that  the  word  is  not 
used  in  a  single  instance,  either  in  classical  or  Bibli- 
cal writings,  in  a  different  sense. 

If  we  now  proceed  to  the  explanation  of  the  pas 
sage,  Luke  8  :  31,  where  the  abyss  (the  regions  of  the 
lower  world,)  is  mentioned  as  the  proper  abode  of 
demons,  we  shall  discover,  on  a  clear  insight  into  the 
passage,  that  by  the  abyss  is  not  meant  the  present 
abode  of  the  follen  angels,  but  rather,  their  future 
prison,  to  which  they  shall  be  irrevocably  consigned, 
only  at  the  day  of  judgment.^  The  petition  of  the 
demons,  that  the  Lord  would  not  send  them  into  the 
deep  must  be  explained  by  the  preceding  words :  "  Art 
thou  come  to  torment  us  before  the  timeP"  They 
were  tormented  by  the  fear  that  the  Lord  might  now 
consign  them  to  that  prison  of  despair  and  death, 
which  they  well  know  awaits  them  at  the  last  day. 
"Evil  spirits  are  not,"  says  Hofmann,  *' confined 
where  death  alone  bears  sway,  but  they  work  in  the 
living  also,  in  order  to  lead  them  to  sin  and  drag 
them  down  to  death." 

Further,  granting  that  the  view  of  Matt.  12 :  43, 
which  represents  the  demons  as  walking  through  dry 
places  seeking  rest,  is  contained  even  in  other  parts 

epistle ;  while  at  the  same  time  it  is  by  no  means  allowable  to 
attribute  to  Paul  the  same  curiosity  which  was  connected  with 
this  view  or  axiom  in  the  minds  of  the  Jewish  sages,  since  he 
says  nothing  more  than  that  the  devil  and  his  powers  inhabit  the 
air." 

1  Rev.  20  :  3-10. 


260        BIBLICAL    THEOBY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

of  Scripture ;  ^  we  do  not  feel  ourselves  warranted  in 
giving  all  tliese  passages  a  figurative  meaning; 
neither  can  we  discover  in  them  any  substantial  con^ 
tradiction  to  Eph.  2  :  2,  and  6  :  12.  There  is  no  reason 
to  suppose  that  if  demons  inhabit  the  regions  of  the 
air,  they  cannot  inhabit  the  dry  or  waste  places  of 
the  earth  also — both  predicates  in  respect  to  them 
may  be  alike  true  at  the  same  time.  And  though 
it  be  true  that  the  devil,  according  to  1st  Pet.  5:8, 
goes  about  as  a  roaring  lion,  seeking  whom  he  may 
devour,  and  that  he  walks  to  and  fro  upon  the  earth, 
amid  the  habitations  of  men — all  this  does  not  ex- 
clude the  idea  that  he  should  dwell  in  the  regions  of 
the  air,  and  in  the  w^aste  places  of  the  earth.  This 
alone  necessarily  follows,  that  he  is  not,  together 
v/ith  all  his  power  and  influence,  banished  to  and 
confined  in  these  regions  and  places. 

Paul  himself,  in  other  places,  calls  the  Satanic 
power  of  the  air,  the  spirit  which  worketh  in  the 
children  of  disobedience,  and  the  evil  hosts  of  the 
heavenly  places,  the  rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this 
world.  And,  according  to  the  words  of  our  Lord  in 
Matt.  12  :  43,  demons  pass  to  and  from  waste  places 
upon  the  earth  generally,  at  wdll. 

It  yet  remains  for  us  to  incorporate  the  results  we 
have  just  now  attained,  with  our  previous  knowledge 
of  the  history  and  condition  of  the  fallen  angels. 

Satan  possessed  a  foothold  upon  the  renew^ed  earth, 
and  a  place  where  to  commence  his  direful  opera- 
tions, only  in  the  tree  of  knowledge,  and  in  the  ser- 
pent, the  instrument  of  the  temptation.     He  made 

Lev.  16  :  10  j  Is.  34  :  13,  14;  Eev.  12  :  9. 


PRESENT    PLACE    OF   FALLEN   ANGELS.      261 

use  of  them  as  means  of  a  betrayal  by  which  he 
hoped  to  acquire,  iu  the  earth  from  which  he  had 
been  driven,  a  new  province  where  to  exercise  his 
dominion.  He  succeeded ;  but  still,  not  so  fully  as 
he  had  hoped. 

The  Ml  brought  man  under  the  power  of  him  by 
whom  he  was  betrayed,  and  the  latter  became  the 
ruler  of  the  darkness  of  this  world,  which,  as  the 
consequence  of  sin,  again  cast  its  brooding  shadows 
over  all  things;  Satan  became  the  prince,  yea,  even, 
the  god  of  this  world.^  But  this  dominion  was  pre- 
vented from  being  absolute  and  universal  by  the 
intervention  of  the  plan  of  salvation ;  for  the  evil  one 
finds  his  proper  subjects  only  in  the  children  of  dis- 
obedience, he  rules  only  in  the  darkness  of  this  world, 
and  only  the  darkened  minds  of  the  unbelieving 
acknowledge  him  as  their  prince  and  God.  The 
"tohu  va  bohu,"  which  had  been  reduced  by  the  six 
days'  work,  again  broke  forth,  however,  in  the  form 
of  thorns  and  thistles  growing  from  the  sin-cursed 
earth ;  of  fatal  poisons  in  the  animal  and  vegetable 
kingdoms;  of  deserts  and  barren  solitudes  upon  the 
face  of  the  earth ;  of  careering  storms  and  pestifer- 
ous miasmata  in  the  atmosphere.  But  the  new  and 
glorious  character  the  earth  received  in  the  six  days' 
creation,  with  its  bright  and  warm  suns,  its  fruitful 
seasons,  its  green  valleys,  its  liveried  beauty,  its  teem- 
ing life  and  showers  of  blessings,  still  predominated. 
Thus  it  appears  that  the  leagued  hosts  of  Satanic 
power  were  not  again  permitted  to  take  complete 
possession  of  the  earth ;  not  even  after  the  fall  of 

»  2  Cor.  4  :  4. 


262        BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

man,  and  the  wide-spread  ruin  arising  therefrom  — 
no,  not  even  to  find  in  its  waste  places  that  rest 
which  they  seek.^  Hurled  from  heaven,  the  place  of 
glory  and  blessedness,  shut  out  from  the  society  of 
the  holy  angels,  their  former  companions,  and  still 
strangers  upon  earth,  as  the  theatre  of  a  salvation  in 
w^hich  they  have  no  part,  they  take  a  position  between 
heaven  and  earth — they  make  the  air  their  abode. 
The  earth  was  their  original  home ;  they  have  old 
claims  upon  it,  on  account  of  the  "tohu  va  bohu  " 
out  of  which  it  was  formed :  they  have  acquired  new 
claims  upon  it,  by  means  of  the  sin  and  ruin  they 
have  caused,  to  mar  the  glory  of  our  human  world. 
To  make  s^ood  these  claims,  to  enlarsre  and  extend 
them,  is  their  one  fond  hope,  the  object  of  their 
leao:ued  endeavors. 

§  28.   The  Universal  History  of  the  Cosmos. 

The  Holy  Scriptures  clearly  place  the  development 
and  destiny,  the  aim  and  end  of  the  whole  creation,  in 
this  striking,  this  unique  (einheitlichen)  point  of  view, 
that  they  are  all  comprehended  under  one  single 
world-plan,  and  that  all  history  is  governed,  animated 
and  sustained,  by  this  same  all-controlling  plan. 
They  supply  us  with  a  drama  of  the  development  of 
a  world,  in  its  most  general  and  essential  features, 
in  which  all  the  creatures  formed  and  disciplined,  so 
well  as  the  Creator  forming  and  disciplining  them, 
take  an  active  part ;  in  which  there  is  given,  either 
b}''  God  himself,  or  through  the  medium  of  a  free 
choice  on  the  part  of  the  creature,  to  the  finite  spirit, 

»  Matt.  12  :  43,  44. 


UNIVERSAL   HISTORY   OF   COSMOS.  263 

and  also  to  physical  nature  where  it  is  to  manifest  its 
activity  —  to  the  angel  of  heaven  as  well  as  to  man 
upon  earth,  —  a  special  part  to  sustain — to  each  one 
his  particular  role ;  but  this  ever  in  conformity  to  the 
nature  and  measure  of  his  Divine  vocation.  They 
point  us  to  ''one  Grod,  the  Father,  of  ivhom  are  all 
things,  and  we  in  him :  and  one  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
hy  whom  are  all  things  and  we  by  him."^  They  open 
to  us  a  view  into  the  counsels  of  the  Divine  will,  from 
whence  in  the  beginning  all  things  proceeded,  by 
which  all  things  were  ordained  from  eternity,  accord- 
ing to  the  good  pleasure  of  his  will,  so  that  he  might, 
in  the  fulness  of  times,  gather  together  in  one,  all 
things  in  Christ,  both  which  are  in  heave7i,  and  which 
are  in  earth;  even  in  him,^  and  to  him;^ — so  that 
eve7y  name  that  is  nayned,  not  only  in  this  world,  hut 
also  in  that  which  is  to  come,  may  be  united  in  ever- 
lasting harmony  and  fulness  under  him  the  one  head, 
and  in  such  a  manner  that  one  may  not  be  made 
perfect  without  the  other,*  so  that  when  all  is  fin- 
ished, God  may  be  all  in  all.^ 

Thus  do  the  Holy  Scriptures  furnish  us  with  a  his- 
tory, now  by  hints,  and  now  more  at  length  —  ever 
according  to  man's  special  need  of  knowledge  and 
capacities  for  it,  for  his  religious  v/ants  are  always  first 
looked  to  —  a  history  which,  taking  within  its  wide 
grasp  the  whole  universe,  and  placing  its  total  deve- 
lopment in  such  a  point  of  view,  that  it  may  be  seen 
as  the  offspring  of  a  single  Divine  decree,  and  to  tend 
to  one  final  goal  —  a  history  which  may  thus  with 

•  1  Cor.  8  :  G.  ^  ]^ph.  1  ..  10.  3  j^oq^.  h  .  30. 

4  Heb.  11  -40.  5  1  Cor.  15  :  28. 


264         BIBLICAL     THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

special  emphasis  be  called  a  universal  Jdstory,  a  his- 
tory for  the  full  and  thorough  knowledge  of  which 
we  must  await  the  clear  vision  of  the  eternal  state, 
when  our  present  fragmentary  knowledge  shall  be 
for  ever  done  away.^ 

This  history,  according  to  its  elements  and  funda- 
mental features  as  derived  from  Scripture,  may  be 
significantly  divided  into  four  grand  periods,  or  ages 
of  the  world  [alviMBc). 

The  first  period,  which  may  be  called  the  primeval 
age^  comprehends  the  creation  of  the  whole  universe, 
together  w^ith  its  original  inhabitants,  the  angels ; 
and  also  the  development  and  partial  fall  of  the 
latter,  by  which  at  least  one  of  the  happy  and  glo- 
rious worlds  of  the  beginning,  was  engulphed  in  the 
floods  of  destruction,  ruined  and  laid  waste,  made  a 
"  tohu  va  bohu." 

The  second  period,  which  w^e  shall  call  the  past 
age^  includes  the  restitution  of  the  earth  which  had 
been  destroyed  on  account  of  the  sin  of  the  fallen 
ano-els,  the  creation  of  man  as  the  lord  and  inhabi- 
tant  of  the  new  earth,  and  also  the  trial  of  man 
which  resulted  in  his  opposition  to  God,  and  thus 
produced  a  new  schism  in  the  unity  of  the  universe, 
a  fresh  discord  in  the  harmony  of  the  spheres. 

The  tliird  period,  called  in  Scripture  6  a/cijv  outo^,  and 
which  we  shall,  in  harmony  with  its  terms,  call  the 
present  age,  comprehends  the  redemption  of  man 
throuo-h  Christ,  and  the  renewal  of  the  earth  wdiich 
has  been  marred  by  fall  of  the  human  race.  In 
Christ  we  are  about  to  see  the  unfulfilled  mission  of 

»  1  Cor.  13  :  9,  10. 


INTEREST  OF  ANGELS  IN  THE  EARTH.   265 

the  second  age  of  the  workl,  most  fully  and  gloriously 
realized,  and  the  twice  disturbed  Divine  plan  of  the 
world  fully  carried  out. 

The  fourth  period,  the  future  age  of  the  Scriptures, 
6  a.tCiv  ixsTvog,  0  aluv  fxsXXwv,  is  to  be  the  eternal  Sabbath 
of  all  God's  creatures  who  have  remained  steadfast 
to  him,  and  of  those  who  have  been  redeemed  —  in 
it  they  shall  enter  into  His  everlasting  rest.  That 
time  is  to  be  one  with  eternity;  in  it  all  develop- 
ments shall  have  been  fully  unfolded,  all  changes 
brought  to  rest,  and  all  histories  finally  and  eternally 
closed. 

We  have  already  considered  the  chief  points  in 
the  history  of  the  two  first  ages  of  the  world,  so  far 
as  they  may  be  gathered  from  revelation  —  we  have 
considered  them,  both  in  themselves,  and  in  their 
relation  to  the  whole.  We  have  also  become  ac- 
quainted with  the  third  age  of  the  world,  in  its  fun- 
damental features,  wdth  respect  to  its  mission  and 
tendencies  (§  16) ;  but  have  been  prevented  from 
pursuing  our  acquaintance  further,  from  the  neces- 
sity of  understanding  this  age  in  its  extra-mundane 
relations.  We  shall  now  take  up  the  thread  of  our 
representation,  just  at  the  point  wdiere  w^e  were  pre- 
viously compelled  to  abandon  it  for  a  time. 

§  29.   The  Interest  of  the  Angels  in  Earthly  Develop- 
ments. 

The  universal  history  of  the  Cosmos  was  by  no 
means  brought  to  an  end  by  the  fall  of  the  angels, 
which  closed  the  first  age  of  the  world.  A  jealous 
God  would  not  endure  the  idea  that  a  world  wdiich 


266        BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

he  had  created,  should  be  hopelessly  abandoned  to 
that  wasting  ruin  which  the  fall  of  its  inhabitants 
had  brought  upon  it.  Hence  he  renewed  it  in  the 
work  of  six  days,  and  gave  it  new  inhabitants. 
Thus  there  began  a  new  act  in  the  great  drama  of 
the  world. 

The  fallen  angels  have  borne  the  sentence  of  con- 
demnation in  themselves  ever  since  the  day  of  their 
daring  revolt.  But  they  still  play  a  part  in  the  new 
world;  their  history  is  intimately  interwoven  with 
the  history  of  man,  the  new  inhabitant ;  and  only 
when  history  is  fully  brought  to  a  close  will  the 
history  of  Satan  be  completed.  The  latter  will  still 
continue  to  press  his  claims,  to  push  his  projects,  to 
vainly  war  against  the  plan  of  redemption,  until  he 
sees  himself  completely  overthrown  by  its  most 
triumphant  and  enduring  success.  So  long  as  there 
still  remains  upon  earth  anything  accessible  to  him, 
w^hich  he  can  take  pleasure  in  destroying ;  so  long 
as  there  still  remain  here  any  beings  not  fully  de- 
livered by  the  redemption  of  Christ  from  this  evil 
w^orld,  from  the  darkness  of  unbelief  and  alienation 
from  God,  of  which  he  is  the  prince;^  so  long  as  he 
may  still  find  the  means  and  opportunity  of  accusing 
men  before  the  throne  of  eternal  justice;^  yea,  so 
long  as  it  remains  perhaps  abstractly  possible  that 
he  may,  by  the  most  extreme,  subtle  and  persistent 
endeavors,  deceive  even  the  elect'^  —  so  long  must 
the  tremendous  curse  to  which  both  he  and  his  fol- 

'  Eph.  6  :  12. 

2  Job  1:2;  Zech.  3:  1;  Luke  22  :  31 ;  Rev.  12:  10. 

3  Matt.  24  :  22  24. 


INTEREST  OF  ANGELS  IN  THE  EARTH.  267 

lowers  are  subjected,  and  wliicli  hovers  above  them 
like  a  gathering  and  an  appalling  storm,  delay  to 
hurl  its  shivering  bolts  upon  the  incorrigible  offen- 
ders. 

This  waiting  for  the  judgment  of  the  great  day, 
keeps  the  good  angels  in  a  state  of  eager  expectation ; 
for  neither  can  the  end  of  their  history,  their  unend- 
ing Sabbath  of  holy  rest  and  perfect  blessedness,  be 
brought  about,  until  the  contest  between  good  and 
evil,  between  light  and  darkness  in  the  minds  of 
created  beings,  in  which  they  play  so  important  a 
part,  is  brought  to  a  triumphant  and  glorious  issue. 
The  disturbed  harmony  of  the  universe  must  first  be 
restored,  all  elements  of  opposition  to  God  removed, 
and  all  discords  resolved  into  one  harmonious,  ma- 
jestic, universal  and  unceasing  anthem  of  praise  to 
a  great  and  good  Creator. 

Those  words  in  the  Book  of  Job  (38  :  7),  to  which 
we  have  already  several  times  referred,  now  appear 
to  us  in  a  new  and  clearer  light ;  we  now  begin  to 
perceive  why  the  restitution  of  the  earth  should  have 
filled  the  sons  of  God,  the  inhabitants  of  the  morn- 
ing-stars, with  joy  and  delight,  and  inspired  them 
with  adoring  and  triumphant  songs. 

We  now  also  perceive  how  deep  and  thrilling  is 
their  interest  in  man  and  in  human  history;  why 
they  are  ever  ready  to  guard  and  further'  the  interests 
of  God^s  kingdom  upon  the  earth ;  rejoice  at  its  ad- 
vancement,- sorrow  over  its  want  of  success,^  to  co- 
operate with  man  in  his  wrestlings  with  the  powers 

'  Ps.  91  :  11,  12:  Heb.  1  :  14.  2  j^^^^  15  .  jq. 

»  Matt.  18  :  10 :  1  Cor.  11  :  10. 


268        BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WOELD. 

of  darkness/  and  to  participate  in  all  tlie  sorrows 
and  joys,  the  struggles  and  triumphs  of  the  human 
race.  Their  calling,  as  ministers  and  messengers  of 
God,  to  protect  and  defend  the  interests  of  his  king- 
dom, is  not  adequate  to  the  explanation  of  their 
sympathy  with  man — the  deep  interest,  the  joy  and 
delight  they  manifest  at  every  success  of  the  plan  of 
salvation,  does  not  arise  wholly  from  the  blessedness 
they  should  experience  in  the  service  of  God  —  in 
the  execution  of  his  commands  and  the  maintenance 
of  his  decrees — were  there  no  real  and  close  connec- 
tion between  this  plan  of  salvation,  these  decrees, 
and  themselves,  had  the  former  no  influential  refer- 
ence to  the  nature  and  position  of  the  latter,  ^o, 
they  have,  besides,  a  special,  a  personal  interest  in 
earthly  afiairs ;  the  history  of  man  is  also  their  own 
history;  every  success  of  the  plan  of  salvation  here 
upon  earth,  brings  their  history  nearer  to  its  trium- 
phant conclusion ;  but,  also,  every  obstruction  of  this 
plan  retards  the  progress  of  their  history. 

§  30.  Participation  of  the  Angels  in  the  Preparatives 
to  Salvation. 

The  first  promise  to  man  placed  in  prospect  a  long 
and  arduous  struggle  between  the  seed  of  the  woman 
and  the  seed  of  the  serpent.  The  final  issue  of  the 
contest  was,  indeed,  not  left  in  doubt ;  for  the  head 
of  the  serpent  was  to  be  bruised,  the  seed  of  the  wo- 
man was  to  conquer,  but  not  without  receiving  many 
wounds  and  suftering  many  reverses. 

» Jude  9. 


ANGELS    AND    SALVATION.  269 

Satan  seemed,  however,  for  a  while  victorious.  He 
liad  again  become  a  power  upon  that  earth  which  he 
had  forfeited,  and  though  it  had  been  renewed,  he 
had  succeeded  in  marring  it  a  second  time ;  he  had 
become  "the  prince  of  this  world,"  ^  yea,  even  "the 
god  of  this  world,"  ^  and  his  angels  "the  rulers  of 
the  darkness  of  this  world.  "^  He  was  at  least  per- 
mitted to  appear  in  the  garments  of  truth,  and  pro- 
mise to  those  whom  he  would  fain  induce  to  serve 
and  obey  him:  "All  this  power  will  I  give  thee,  and 
the  glory  of  them :  for  that  is  delivered  into  me  :  and 
to  whomsoever  I  will,  I  give  it."  *  He  was  permit- 
ted to  appear  as  "the  accuser  of  our  brethren,"^ 
hypocritically  appealing  to  the  justice  of  God,  and 
demanding  that  the  same  curse  which  had  already 
lighted  upon  himself,  or  was  held  in  sure  reserve  for 
him,  should  be  visited  upon  them  (when  they  would 
not  own  him  as  their  master), — for,  were  they  not, 
too,  all  of  them,  sinners  agiiinst  God  ? 

He  acquired  a  wide  province  to  his  dominions  in 
the  worship  of  nature  as  practised  by  the  heathen,® 
and  but  too  often  did  he  succeed  in  planting  the 
growing  seeds  of  idolatry,  in  the  heart  of  that  nation 
which  God  had  chosen  as  the  bearer  of  the  yet  un- 
developed plan  of  salvation.  But  he  was  yearly  re- 
minded in  the  services  of  the  Hebrews,  that  a  great 
Atonement  had  been  found,  which  was  both  unobjec- 
tionable and  all-sufficient,  and  before  which  Satan 

'  John  14  :  30.  ^2  Cor.  4:4.  ^  Eph.  0  :  12. 

*  Luke  4:6.  ^  Rev.  12  :  10 ;  Job  1  :  9 ;  Zech.  3. 

6  1  Cor.  10  :  20,  21. 
23* 


270         BIBLICAL     THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

himself,  the  great  accuser,  must  stand  silent  and  con- 
founded.' 

But  the  angels  of  God  were  far  from  being  list- 
less beholders  of  the  developments  and  contests  that 
were  now  taking  place  upon  the  earth.  They  con- 
stitute the  heavenly  host,  the  powers  of  the  upper 
world,  after  whom  God  names  himself  "  the  Lord  of 
hosts  "  (Jehovah  Sabaoth),  and  "the  captain  of  the 
host  of  the  Lord."  ^  They  ever  surround  the  throne 
of  the  Almighty,  ready  to  be  sent  to  minister  to  them 
who  shall  be  heirs  of  salvation ;  prepared  to  protect 
and  defend  the  righteous,  and  keep  them  in  all  their 
ways,  lest  they  dash  their  foot  against  a  stone.^ 

As  their  destin}^  neither  was,  nor  indeed  could  be, 
to  settle  the  changing  fortunes  of  earthly  affairs,  by 
taking  a  decisive  step  in  the  great  contest,  in  reli- 
ance upon  their  own  unborrowed  strength,  but 
rather,  to  be  messengers  and  ministers  of  Him  who 
alone  has  power  to  conduct  to  a  final  and  triumphal 
issue  the  battle  which  was  being  waged — we  may 
well  suppose  that  their  deepest  interest  and  most 
active  participation  would  not  be  manifested,  until 

*  On  the  great  day  of  atonement  two  goats  were  brought  forth, 
and  determined  by  lot,  the  one  "/or  the  Lord,"  and  the  other 
^'for  AzazeV'  (  a  name  for  Satan).  The  sins  of  the  -whole  people 
•were  then  typically  atoned  for,  by  means  of  the  blood  of  the  first 
goat ;  after  which  the  sins  already  atoned  for,  were  laid  upon  the 
head  of  the  other  goat,  which  was  then  sent  into  the  wilderness 
to  Azazel,  in  order  that  he  might  learn  what  had  happened,  and 
become  conscious  that  by  virtue  of  the  atoning  grace  of  God,  he 
no  longer  had  power  over  the  people  of  Israel.  For  further  par- 
ticulars, compare  my  work:  Das  Mosaisclie  Opfer,  Mitau,  1842, 
p.  266-302. 

2  Josh.  5  :  14,  compare  6:2.  ^  p^.  91  .  n^  12. 


ANGELS     AND     SALVATION.  271 

the  great  Captain  of  salvation  placed  himself  per- 
sonally at  the  head  of  the  ranks,  until  the  prepara- 
tory stage  of  salvation  had  been  passed,  and  the 
point  reached  where  it  was  to  be  accomplished  and 
offered  to  a  waiting  world. 

But,  even  in  that  preparatory  stage,  they  were  not 
mere  intent  beholders  of  what  was  passing,  for  it  is 
said  that  "the  law  " — our  school-master  to  bring  us 
to  Christ  —  "was  received  by  the  disposition  of 
angels,"^  or,  according  to  the  Apostle  Paul:  "or- 
dained by  angels  in  the  hand  of  a  mediator."  ^  This 
is  further  proven  by  the  fact  that  angelic  beings,  who 
move  unseen  through  our  material  creation,  some- 
times (when  they  wished  specially  to  strengthen  the 
faith  of  some  one,  or  supply  needed  comfort,)  em- 
bodied themselves  so  as  to  be  apprehended  by  the 
senses,  either  in  dreams  or  during  waking  hours;  as 
when  Jacob,  during  his  flight  from  the  land  of  pro- 
mise, beheld  in  a  dream,  the  angels  of  God  ascend- 
ing and  descending  between  heaven  and  earth^  as  the 
active  and  untiring  bearers  or  media  of  Divine 
agency — or  when,  as  he  returned,  a  double  host  of 
the  angels  of  God  met  him ;  *  or,  finally,  when  upon 
the  prayer  of  Elisha,  the  Lord  opened  the  eyes  of  the 
desponding  servant  of  the  man  of  God,  so  that  he 
saw  the  mountain  to  be  full  of  horses  and  chariots  of 
tire  round  about  Elisha.^ 

J  Acts  7  :  53.  2  Qal.  3  :  19  ;  Heb.  2:2.         3  Gen.  28. 

^  Gen.  32  :  1,  2.         ^  2  Kings  6  :  17. 


272        BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

§  31.    Christ  the  Second  Adam. 

But  when  the  fuhiess  of  time  was  come,  God  sent 
forth  his  Son,  made  of  a  woman,  made  under  the 
law,  to  redeem  them  that  were  under  the  law,  that 
we  might  receive  the  adoption  of  sons.^  The  Word 
became  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us,  and  all  whose 
spiritual  eyes  were  opened  to  discern  majesty  arrayed 
in  the  garments  of  lowliness,  might  still  behold  "his 
glory  as  the  glory  of  the  only  begotten  Son  of  God, 
full  of  grace  and  truth."  ^  The  eternal  Word  by 
whom  the  heavens  and  the  earth  were  created,  ap- 
peared in  the  world,  to  save  the  world  and  conduct 
it  to  its  ultimate  consummation.  The  first  born  of  all 
creatures,  the  image  of  the  invisible  God,  the  proto- 
tj'pe  of  man  created  in  the  image  of  God,  became 
man ;  the  Lord  of  glory  appeared  in  the  form  of  a 
servant,  and  became  like  to  us  in  all  things,  sin  ex- 
cepted. And  as  formerly,  when  God  renewed  the 
earth  which  had  been  laid  waste  through  the  fall  of 
the  angels,  the  morning  stars  sang  together,  and  all 
the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy;  so  also  now  the  ad- 
vent of  Christ,  the  second  Adam,  the  Redeemer  of 
men,  was  celebrated  by  the  praises  of  the  angelic 
hosts.^  The  celestial  worlds  joined  in  the  celebration 
— the  star  in  the  east,  the  sign  of  the  new-born  king, 
came  and  stood  over  the  lowly  stable  in  Bethlehem, 
where  the  matchless  wonder  of  worlds  had  taken 
place.*  Christ  took  part  in  the  history  of  the  world, 
in  the  history  of  the  universe,  as  the  second  Adam, 
the  restorer  of  the  human  race,  in  order  to  accom- 

»  Gal.  4  :  4,  5.     2  j^hn  1 :  14.     ^  Luke  2  :  10-14. 


CHRIST     THE     SECOND    ADAM.  273 

plish  finally  and  gloriously  the  counsels  of  the  grace 
of  God,  which  had  been  devised  in  eternity,  but  twice 
disturbed  by  the  revolt  of  his  creatures. 

He  was  to  do  away  with  the  false,  the  unhealthy 
development  upon  which  man  had  entered,  which 
ended  only  in  sin  and  death ;  and  he  w^as  to  restore 
all  that  it  had  destroyed.  He  was  to  take  up  again 
the  missed  or  neglected  development  God  had  ap- 
pointed for  man,  which  was  to  lead  to  unalloyed  and 
endless  perfection  and  blessedness ;  to  bring  this 
earth  to  its  final  and  perfect  state,  and  to  resolve  the 
whole  universe  again  into  one  harmonious  and  glori- 
ous whole. 

In  order  to  accomplish  these  high  ends,  he  entered 
the  organism  of  the  human  race  by  being  born  of  a 
woman, ^  as  a  new  and  holy  member  of  this  race,  and 
furnished  with  a  fulness  of  life  that  might  never  be 
diminished  or  exhausted.  He,  the  new  and  healthy 
member,  bears  all  the  infirmities  and  sicknesses  of 
the  whole  organism  —  he  heals  all  its  diseases  from 
his  inexhaustible  life-giving  resources.  Thus  he  be- 
comes the  head  and  the  heart  of  the  total  ors-anism, 
and  as  formerly  our  sins  and  infirmities  brought  suf- 
fering and  sorrow  upon  him,  so  also  now  since  his 
death  and  victory,  his  grace  and  healing  power  per- 
vades the  whole  organism — the  power  of  the  victory 

'  Christ,  from  being  born  of  a  (however  devout  and  pious  her 
character,  still)  sinful  woman,  was  no  more  affected  with  the 
general  sinfulness  of  humanity,  than  the  noble  scion  assumes  the 
ignoble  nature  of  the  wild  fruit-tree  into  which  it  is  grafted.  Al- 
though nourished  by  the  sap  of  the  wild,  the  ingrafted  shoot  bears 
not  the  fruit  of  the  wild  tree,  but  that  of  its  own  noble  species. 


274        BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

is  felt  by  all.  The  new  life-blood  flows  from  him 
into  the  body  of  humanity,  pervades  and  quickens 
into  renewed  life  by  its  wondrous  power  every  single 
member  of  the  whole  body,  so  far  as  its  influence  is 
received,  through  the  channel  of  a  bond  uniting  that 
member  with  the  great  Head.  But  all  who  are  not 
united  in  community  of  life  with  the  head,  shall 
perish  and  be  cast  away.^  As  we  have  all  sprung 
from  Adam  by  natural  generation,  and  thus  partake 
of  Adam's  sin  and  guilt,  so  also  are  we  to  obtain 
Christ's  righteousness  and  holiness  by  being  spiri- 
tually begotten  of  him.  We  must  abide  by  him, 
the  captain  of  our  salvation,  who  endures  great  con- 
flicts and  gains  great  victories  for  us  and  with  us  ; 
we  must  follow  him  through  contests  and  victories, 
that  we  may  finall^^be  exalted  with  him  to  that  glory 
which  he  has  acquired  by  his  own  matchless  power. 
He  took  the  place  of  the  first  Adam,  the  place  of 
the  whole  human  race  ;  he  did  that  which  we  should 
have  done,  but  could  not  do,  since  we  are  sinners ; 
he  suffered  where  we  should  have  sufiered  —  should 
have  sufiered  eternally.  He  obtained  eternal  re- 
demption for  us.  For  by  his  death  he  has  acquired 
a  7)^erit  which  receives,  from  the  Divinity  of  his 
nature,  infinite  worth  and  eternal  validity,  and  thus 
removes  the  immeasurable  guilt  of  our  sins ; — by  his 
resurrection  he  has  brought  to  light  a  fulness  of  life 
and  immortality,  which,  flowing  from  his  Divine 
nature,  is  adequate  to  heal  every  disease,  to  supply 
every  deficiency,  and  to  give  victorious  strength  to 
those  that  are  ready  to  faint.     He  has  by  his  own 

1  John  15  :  4-6. 


CHEIST  THE  SECOND  ADAM.      275 

death,  taken  away  the  sting  of  death ;  for  the  sting 
of  death  is  sin ;  —  his  resurrection  has  opened  the 
way  for  our  resurrection,  for : 

"  Shall  Head  and  members  part  in  twain, 
And  never  be  rejoined  again  ?" 

His  ascension  is  the  pledge  of  our  future  exaltation ; 
he,  by  sitting  at  the  right  hand  of  God  with  regal 
power,  completes  our  salvation,  and  conducts  heaven 
and  earth,  angels  and  men,  to  that  state  of  absolute 
perfection  decreed  in  the  counsels  of  eternity.  Thus 
is  the  human  race  finally  to  attain  that  position  in 
the  universe  for  which  it  was  originally  destined. 

When  the  Lord  of  glory  became  man,  he  laid 
aside  his  Divine  form  ; '  but  when  he  ascended  again 
to  heaven,  he  assumed  anew  the  full  glory  *of  the 
Divine  character.  He  appeared  in  the  likeness  of 
sinful  flesh,  amidst  the  sinfnl  inhabitants  of  this 
earth ;  ^  but  he  arose  from  the  grave  with  a  glorified 
body,  and  he  now  sits  in  the  same  glorified  human 
form — flesh  of  our  flesh,  and  bone  of  our  bone — on 
the  right  hand  of  power.  "While  he  tabernacled 
upon  the  earth,  his  Godhead  took  part  in  the  low- 
liness, the  griefs  and  sorrows  of  human,  nature,  by 
means  of  the  personal  union  of  the  two  natures ; 
now  as  he  sits  at  the  right  hand  of  God  on  high,  his 
human  nature  partakes  of  all  the  infinite  attributes 
of  the  Godhead.  He  who  calls  us  brethren,^  rules 
th^  world :  the  man  Jesus  it  is,  who  is  the  judge  of 
the  quick  and  the  dead. 

The  Redeemer,  even  during  his  earthly  life  in  the 
form  of  a  servant,  gave,  in  his  wondrous  works,  the 
Phil.  2:6.  2  Roni_  ^  .  3,  3  Heb.  2  :  11. 


276        BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

begiiuungs,  the  types  and  pledges  of  that  full  re- 
demption which  lie  as  the  glorified  Son  of  man  is  to 
bring  about,  at  the  winding  up  of  earthly  afiairs. 
His  miracles  pertained  essentially  to  his  character 
and  work  as  the  second  Adam,  the  restorer  of  all 
things.  Man  by  the  fall  lost  that  dominion  over 
physical  nature  and  the  creatures  of  the  earth  which 
God  at  the  first  bestowed  upon  him  —  the  proper 
relation  between  spirit  and  nature  was  thereby  dis- 
turbed. Sickness,  pain,  misery  and  death,  coupled 
with  many  disturbances  in  the  economy  of  nature, 
entered  the  life  of  humanity.  It  was  the  mission 
of  the  Son  of  man,  to  recover  and  exercise  this 
lost  dominion,  to  do  away  with  all  the  consequences 
of  sin*  and  restore  completel}^  the  proper  relation 
between  spirit  and  nature,  between  mind  and  matter. 
This  can,  indeed,  be  effected  in  its  full  extent  and 
completeness,  only  at  the  end  of  this  economy  of 
affairs,  at  the  close  of  the  third  age  of  the  world  — 
when  the  new  life  which  Christ  has  implanted^  in 
humanity,  has  thoroughly  pervaded  and  transformed 
the  whole  race.  But  it  was  both  possible  and  fitting 
that  the  first  fruits  of  this  restoration  should  already 
be  visible,  as  types  and  pledges  of  its  final  and  full 
accomplishment.  Hence  he  appeased  the  raging 
storm  of  the  sea,  with  the  potent  words,  "  Peace,  be 
still  I"  as  a  sign  that  he  would  in  future  heal  all  the 
wounds  and  convulsions  of  nature  ;  hence  he  showed 
his  absolute  control  over  the  sustaining  properties 
of  food  and  drink,  by  turning  the  water  into  wine, 
and  satisfying  with  a  few  small  loaves  five  thousand 
that  huno-ered.     Hence  he  healed  all  manner 


men 


CO-OPERATION    AND    OPPOSITION    OF    ANGELS.       277 

of  sicknesses,  and  called  the  dead  back  into  life 
attain,  as  a  sign  that  he  was  abont  to  entirely'  abolish 
the  power  of  death  ;  and  hence,  finally,  he  destroyed 
the  fearfnl  power  of  the  prince  of  darkness  over 
men,  which  was  specially  observable  in  the  possessed 
of  his  time,  in  order  to  show  that  he  was  come  to 
destroy  all  the  works  of  darkness. 

And  as  he  ascended  into  heaven,  so  in  like  man- 
ner shall  he  come  again,'  in  the  clouds  of  heaven, 
with  Divine  majesty  and  glory,  that  he  mayjndge 
the  quick  and  the  dead,  and  conduct  both  heaven 
and  earth  to  their  state  of  ultimate  perfection.  He 
has  gone  awa}-,  as  he  said  he  should,  "m  oi'der  to 
prepare  a  place  for  us/'^  When  he  returns  again,  then 
shall  that  place  which  is  being  prepared,  receive  his 
followers  into  eternal  rest  and  blessedness. 

§  32.   Co-operation  and  Opposition  of  the  Angels  in  the 
Life  of  Christ. 

The  life  of  the  Redeemer  upon  earth,  was  the 
central  and  turning  point  of  the  whole  history  of  the 
human  race,  and  —  on  account  of  the  peculiar  posi- 
tion of  man  with  respect  to  the  universe  —  of  the 
history  of  the  whole  universe  also. 

Hence  we  have  here,  swelled  to  great  power  and 
concentrated,  the  efibrts  and  strivings  of  angels  and 
demons,  of  the  seed  of  the  woman  and  the  seed  of 
the  serpent ;  the  one  sympathizing  and  co-operating 
with  the  holy  Redeemer,  the  other  hating  and  op- 
posing him.  On  the  one  hand  we  see  enmity  and 
hate,  an    enlistment  of  all  the  powers  of  darkness 

lActs  1:  11.  2  John  14:  2. 

24 


278        BIBLICAL    TIIEOEY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

to  injure  the  Lord's  Anoiuted  and  prevent  tlie  com- 
pletion of  his  glorious  work.  This  satanic  warring 
against  the  Prince  of  life  was  persisted  in  from  the 
manger  to  the  cross  !  Herod's  thirst  for  blood,  the 
cruel  persecutions  of  the  high  priests,  the  treachery 
of  Judas,  the  wild  and  murderous  clamor  of  the 
multitude,  Pilate's  fear  of  man,  the  temptation 
through  hunger  and  the  offer  of  w^orldly  advantage 
in  the  wilderness,  the  temptation  of  sorrow  in  the 
garden  of  Gethsemane  —  all  these  were  enlisted  by 
Satan  against  the  holy  Redeemer;  —  "For  of  a 
truth,  against  thy  holy  child  Jesus,  whom  thou  hast 
anointed,  both  Plerod  and  Pontius  Pilate,  with  the 
Gentiles  and  the  people  of  Israel,  were  gathered 
together ;  for  to  do  whatsoever  thy  hand  and  thy  coun- 
sel deter^nined  before  to  he  doneT'^ 

The  first,  the  chief,  and  the  most  decisive  onset  of 
the  prince  of  darkness,  was  the  temptation  in  the  wil- 
derness. It  was  the  same  in  form,  substance  and 
aim,  as  the  the  temptation  of  the  first  Adam.  The 
latter,  as  w^e  have  already  seen,  was  necessary  and 
indispensable.  But  since  the  first  Adam  did  not 
withstand  the  temptation,  the  second  Adam  had  to 
be  subjected  to  the  same  trial.  As  the  false,  the 
unnatural  development  of  the  human  race,  by  which 
it  was  involved  in  death  and  ruin,  began  by  suhjec- 
tion  to  the  power  of  the  tempter,  so  also  w^as  it 
necessary  that  the  new  development  which  was  to 
lead  to  the  redemption,  restoration  and  perfecting 
of  the  human  race,  should  commence  with  the  con- 
quest of  this  arch  traitor.     "And  when  the  devil 

'  Acts  4  :  27,  28. 


CO-OPERATION   AND    OPPOSITION    OF   ANGELS.       279 

had  ended  all  the  temptation,  he  departed  from  him 
for  a  season.''  ^ 

But  it  was  necessary  that  the  whole  weight  of 
human  sorrows  should  come  before  him  in  the  form 
of  a  temptation,  as  well  as  thirst  for  earthly  gain 
and  glory,  so  that  he  might  be  like  to  us  in  all 
things,  and  be  tempted  in  all  things  like  as  we  are, 
though  without  sin.'-^  Hence  Satan  was  permitted 
to  tempt  him  anew  and  in  another  point — to  try  if 
he  could  not  induce  him  to  abandon  his  vocation  as 
the  Redeemer  of  men,  by  presenting  to  his  mind  the 
fearful  burden  of  sorrows  which  awaited  him. 

This  temptation  was  first  presented  to  him  under 
the  form  of  tender  love  and  sj-mpathizing  regard, 
by  the  words  of  his  disciple  Peter :  "  Be  it  far  from 
thee,  Lord:  this  shall  not  be  unto  thee!"  But  the 
Lord  w^as  not  to  be  deceived  ;  he  well  knew  how  to 
distinguish  between  the  weak  and  erring  love  of  a 
disciple,  which  served  as  a  covering  to  the  designs 
of  the  tempter,  and  the  satanic  origin  and  bearing 
of  the  words  spoken.  Hence  he  said :  "  Get  thee 
behind  me,  Satan ;  for  thou  art  an  offence  unto  me  !"^ 

But  it  was  in  the  garden  of  Gethsemane  that  this 
same  temptation  displayed  openly  its  full,  its  matured 
power.  And  when  the  Eedeemer  now  came  forth 
victorious  from  this  temptation  also,  and  prepared  to 
fiice  all  the  terrors  of  death,  with  courage  undaunted, 
Satan  himself  hastened,  in  impotent  rage,  to  bring 
these  terrors  quickly  to  pass,  in  order  to — undo  him- 
self and  destroy  his  own  power.  He  had  put  it  into 
the  heart  of  Judas  Iscariot,  one  of  the  disciples,  to 
•  Luke  4  :  13.  ^  jig^^  4  .  15^         3  Matt.  16  :  22,  23. 


280         BIBLICAL     TIIEOBY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

betray  Ins  Master ;  ^  Satan  entered  into  this  son  of 
Simon  after  he  received  the  sop  from  the  hand  of  his 
Lord.^  And  now  the  whole  multitude,  inoculated 
with  his  infernal  rancor,  and  raging  like  wild  beasts 
against  him  who  in  pitying  love  left  his  throne  in 
heaven  to  save  them^  cry  out  in  fanatical  rage:  "Cru- 
cify him,  crucify  him." 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  we  behold  the  holy  angels 
showing  the  liveliest  interest  in  the  Redeemer. 
Heaven  was  again  opened,  and  the  angels  of  God 
ascended  and  descended  upon  the  Son  of  man.^ 
Ansrels  announced  to  the  elect  that  the  time  was 
•near  for  which, 

"  Patriarchs,  and  holy  Seers, 
Had  hoped  for  many  weary  years.'' 

And  when  the  hour  had  arrived,  when  the  ever-dur- 
ing  wonder  of  the  world's  history  had  come  to  pass, 
in  the  lowly  manger  of  Bethlehem,  the  angelic 
choirs  praised  in  joyful,  swelling  anthems,  the  won- 
drous, the  boundless  grace  of  God.  Angels  also 
kept  watch  over  the  little  child,  prepared  the  way 
for  his  escape  into  Egypt,  from  the  bloody  Herod, 
and  brought  him  safely  back  after  the  danger  was 
past.'^  When  the  Redeemer  came  forth  victorious 
from  the  temptation  in  the  wilderness,  "behold, 
angels  came  and  ministered  unto  him;"''  and  when 
he  had  gloriously  endured  the  fearful  agony  of  Geth- 
semane,  "  there  appeared  an  angel  unto  him  from 
heaven,  strengthening  him.^    And  when  he  had  now 


'  John  13  :  2.  2  j^^j^  13  :  27.  =»  John  1  :  51. 

4  Matt.  2  :  13  19.         ^  Matt.  4:11.  ^  j^uke  22  :  43. 


PROGRESS     OF     THE     CONTEST.  281 

destroyed  the  power  of  death,  had  victoriously  burst 
its  bands  and  brought  Hfe  and  immortaUty  to  light, 
angels  were  the  triumphant  announcers  of  this  vic- 
tory of  life  over  death ;  and  they,  tcx^,  lingered  be- 
hind, when  the  Lord  ascended  to  heaven,  to  announce 
to  the  bereaved  disciples  that  he  should  come  again 
in  glory. 

§  33.  Ascension  of  Christ,  and  Progress  of  the  Contest 
till  His  Return. 

The  death  and  resurrection  of  the  Eedeemer 
brought  his  earthly  work  to  a  close.  He  had  now 
procured  salvation,  and  the  means  (means  of  grace) 
by  vrhich  it  might  and  should  be  applied  to  all  who 
^vould  not  obstinately  harden  themselves  against  the 
grace  of  God.  His  work  accomplished,  the  Lord 
ascends  to  heaven,  returning  to  re-assume  the  glory 
he  had  with  the  Father  before  the  foundations  of  the 
earth  were  laid. 

The  warring  of  light  against  darkness  was  by  no 
means  3^et  ended — no,  it  still  as  ever  went  forward, 
and  the  earth  was  still  the  battle-field.  Christ  the 
Lord  did  indeed  ascend  to  heaven,  but  not  thereby 
did  he  withdraw  himself  from  the  conflict.  He  still 
remains,  since  his  ascension,  the  captain  of  salvation, 
the  leader  of  the  hosts  of  light — this  now  in  its  pro- 
per and  comprehensive  sense. 

The  substance  and  significance  of  the  ascension  of 
Christ  is  comprehended  in  this,  that  he  again  took 
upon  himself  the  "form  of  God  "  ^ — the  eternal  Di- 
vine existence  and  mode  of  life — ^^■hich  he  had  re- 

»  Phil.  2  :  6. 
24  * 


282         BIBLICAL   THEORY    OF   THE   WORLD. 

nounced  in  becoming  incarnate  and  like  to  us  in  all 
things,  in  order  that  through  death  he  might  destroy 
him  that  had  the  power  of  death. ^  Tliat  form  of  life 
which  is  peculiar  to  the  Divine  Being  is  this,  that  He, 
the  Everlasting  One,  is  at  once  as  infinitely  exalted 
above  time  and  space  (his  transcendence),  as  he  con- 
stantly and  everywhere,  with  his  essence  and  the 
energy  of  his  will,  pervades  and  controls,  preserves 
and  sustains  both  time  and  space  (his  immanence). 

Hence  it  is  clear  that  the  ascension  of  Christ  was 
not  merely  a  departure  from  the  earth  ;  it  was  rather, 
at  the  same  time,  both  a  departure  and  a  coming.  It 
was  a  departure,  in  the  sense  that  he  returned  to  his 
Divine  transcendence — in  the  sense  that  he  was  no 
longer  bodili/  visible  among  his  followers.  But  it  was 
no  less  an  all-pervading  and  plenary  coming,  in  the 
sense  that  he  now  returned  to  his  Divine  immanence, 
in  order  that  he  might  fulfil  the  promise,  "  lo  !  I  am 
with  you  alwa}' s,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world ;  ^  and 
also,  the  promise,  "  w^here  two  or  three  are  gathered 
together  in  my  name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of 
them." ' 

He  wdio  had  humbled  himself  as  the  servant  and 
minister  of  all,  now  resumed  the  sceptre  of  universal 
dominion  as  his  sovereign  right,  and  became  Lord 
over  all  and  blessed  for  evermore.  God  the  Father 
placed  him  "  far  above  all  principalities  and  power, 
and  might,  and  dominion,  and  every  name  that  is 
named,  not  only  in  this  world,  but  also  in  that  which 
is  to  come  ;  and  put  ail  things  under  his  feet,  and 
gave  him  to  be  the  head  over  all  things  to  the  church, 

1  Heb.  2  :  14,  15.  ^  ^att.  28  :  20.  ^  Matt.  18  :  20. 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  CONTEST.      283 

which  is  his  body,  the  fulness  of  him  that  filleth  all 
in  aW 

Hence  his  saying  :  "  All  power  is  given  to  me  in 
heaven  and  upon  earth."  ^  Hence  might  he  well 
assure  his  disciples:  "It  is  expedient  for  you  that  I 
go  away  ;^  and  again,  "I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for 
you,"  and  "in  my  Father's  house  are  many  man- 
sions.""^ 

To  2)repare  a  place  for  us.  He  shall  bring,  wdien 
he  returns  in  glory,  that  place  with  him,  "prepared 
as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband."  ^ 

But  he  has  not  left  us  "  comfortless  "^  upon  this 
poor  earth,  still  groaning  under  the  curse ;  comfort- 
less amid  all  our  sufferings  and  griefs  in  this  "  body 
of  death;  "^  while  he,  in  his  Father's  house  above, 
where  are  found  the  throne  of  glory  and  the  abodes 
of  the  blessed,  prepares  a  place  for  us ;  wdiile  he,  as 
the  ruler  and  judge  of  the  world,  conducts  all  things 
to  their  ultimate  consummation,  and  thus  provides 
and  secures  for  man,  that  glory  which  awaits  him  in 
eternal  life.  For,  being  the  ruler  of  the  world,  he  is 
at  the  same  time  the  head  of  the  church,  the  first 
born  among  man}^  brethren  ;  he  pours  out  his  Spirit 
upon  all  flesh,  sends  the  Comforter  to  lead  us  into  all 
truth,  and  to  prepare  us  for  our  p)lace  as  he  (Christ) 
prepares  it  for  us. 

Conflicts  await  us,  severe  conflicts ;  for  the  Lord 
came  not  to  send  peace  upon  earth,  but  a  sword^ — 
not  to  send  that  peace  which  would  be  more  disgrace- 
ful than  the  most  hapless  conflict,  but  a  sword  for 

'  Eph.  1 :  21-23.      2  MaU.  28  :  18.      »  John  IG  :  7.     '  John  14  :  2. 
5  Rev.  21  :  22.         ^  John  14 :  18.       "^  Rom.  7  :  24.     ^  Matt.  10  ;  34. 


284        BIBLICAL    TIIEOBY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

such  a  contest  as  may  gain  for  us  a  true  and  lasting 
peace.  He  himself  is  still,  as  ever,  the  sovereign 
leader,  the  great  champion  in  all  the  warrings 
between  the  hosts  of  light  and  the  hosts  of  darkness ; 
and  he  commands  us  to  take  our  weapons  from  the 
armory  of  his  Spirit — to  "  put  on  the  whole  armor  of 
God,  that  we  may  be  able  to  stand  against  the  wiles 
of  the  devil;  "  to  take  to  ourselves  "the  breast-plate 
of  righteousness,  the  shield  of  faith,  the  helmet  of 
salvation,  and  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the 
word  of  God.^ 

Since  Satan  has  been  foiled  in  all  his  attempts  to 
prevent  the  accomjylishment  of  the  ivork  of  salvation^ 
he  now  bends  all  his  endeavors  to  prevent  or  hinder 
the  appropriation  of  that  salvation.  Therefore  "he 
goes  about  as  a  roaring  lion,  seeking  whom  he  may 
devour" — but  "resist  the  devil,"  say  the  Scriptures, 
"  and  he  will  iiee  from  thee."  ^ 

But  the  angels  of  God,  on  the  other  hand,  are  ever 
ready  to  protect  and  defend  the  elect  against  the 
powers  of  darkness.  And  although  that  visible,  sen- 
sible manifestation  of  themselves  and  their  power, 
which  was  still  common  even  in  the  days  of  the 
Apostles,*  ceased,  as  did  all  outward  miracles  in  gene- 
ral, as  soon  as  the  gospel  and  the  Church  were  im- 
movably fixed  upon  the  rock  of  eternal  salvation  — 
still,  by  no  means  did  they  then  cease  to  be  actively 
and  efficiently  present  amid  our  earthly  afi:airs — with 
a  presence  which  can  be  discovered  by  the  eye  of 
faith  alone.     For  they  are  "all  ministering  spiritSj 

>  Eph.  6  :  11-17.  2  1  Pet  5:8.  ^  James  4  :  7. 

4  Acts  8  :  26 ;  10  :  3 ;  12  :  7,  etc. 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  CONTEST.      285 

sent  forth  to  minister  to  them  who  shall  be  heirs  of 
salvation."^  And  "there  is  joy  in  the  presence  of 
the  angels  of  God,  over  one  sinner  that  repenteth."^ 

But  in  the  pregnant  future,  when  the  development 
of  the  world  has  reached  its  ultimate  goal,  and  the 
Lord  visibly  returns  w^ith  great  majesty  and  glory, 
then  shall  these  bright  beings  surround  him  as  the 
radiance  of  his  own  glory,  ready  to  execute  his  will 
and  bring  the  great  judgment  to  pass. 

Till  then,  the  harvest,  the  judgment  of  the  great 
day,  the  tares  sow^n  by  the  hand  of  the  evil  one,  grow" 
uneradicated  amid  the  good  wheat  of  the  field.  The 
opposition,  the  antagonism  ever  becomes  more 
marked,  more  striking,  the  conflict  more  desperate. 
All  the  powers  of  darkness  now  become  enlisted  for 
one  last  despairing'  effort,  as  the  decisive  hour  draws 
speedily  on.  Anti-christ,  the  highest  development 
and  embodiment  of  all  the  powers  of  darkness,  the 
exact  counterpart  of  the  true  Christ,  now  appears  at 
the  close  of  the  drama — He,  "the  man  of  sin,  wdio 
opposeth  and  exalteth  himself  above  all  that  is  called 
God,  or  that  is  worshipped ;  so  that  he,  as  God,  sitteth 
in  the  temple  of  God,  showing  himself  that  he  is 
God ;  that  Avicked  one,  which  shall  be  revealed, 
whose  coming  is  after  the  working  of  Satan,  with  all 
powder,  and  signs,  and  lying  wonders."' 

This  is  the  Messiah  of  Satan's  sending,  possessing 
all  the  attributes  of  the  spirit  of  the  abyss  :  this  is 
the  Redeemer  commissioned  by  Satan  himself,  to  re- 
deem men  after  a  Satanic  manner — to  free  them  from 
all  Divine  laws,  to  withdraw  them  from  the  new- 

'  lleb.  1  :  14.  2  Luke  15  :  10.  »  2  Thess.  2  :  3-10. 


286         BIBLICAL   THEORY   OF   THE   WORLD. 

creating  influences  of  the  Spirit,  and  introduce  them 
into  the  liberty  of  the  children  of  Satan. 

But  the  very  fact  of  the  mysterj^  of  iniquity  hav- 
ing reached  in  Anti-christ  its  highest  development, 
makes  way  for  the  speedy  coming  of  the  final  judg- 
ment. As  soon  as  the  man  of  sin,  the  son  of  per- 
dition has  revealed  himself  in  all  his  impotent 
madness,  then  ''  shall  the  Lord  consume  him  with 
the  breath  of  his  mouth,  and  destroy  him  with  the 
brightness  of  his  coming."^ 

§  34.  Return  of  Christ  and  Renovation  of  the  Heavens 
and  the  Earth. 

Sudden,  and  unexpected  "  as  a  thief  in  the  night,"  ^ 
shall  be  the  coming  of  the  great  day  of  the  Lord: 
^'as  the  lightning  cometh  out  of  the  east  and  shineth 
even  unto  the  west,  so  also  shall  the  coming  of  the 
Son  of  man  be."^  Sudden,  inevitable  and  irreme- 
diable destruction  shall  come  upon  all  the  enemies 
of  God,  and  they  shall  not  escape.''  The  appearance 
of  the  now  coming  judgment  of  the  world,  shall  be 
fore-shadowed  by  fearful  signs  in  heaven  and  upon 
earth.  All  creation  shall  be  seized  with  a  sudden, 
strange,  and  indescribable  woe.  Terror  and  despair 
shall  take  hold  of  the  godless ;  even  the  hearts  of 
the  good  shall  seem  to  fail  them,  for  fear,  and  for 
looking  after  those  things  that  are  about  to  come 
upon  the  earth.  The  anxious  expectation  of  the 
creature  shall  be  resolved  into  appalling  fear,  and 
the  groanings  0"f  creation  into  fearful  quakings;  for 
every  new^  thing  in  this  sinful  world  is  brought  to 

'  2  Thess. 2:8.    ^l  Thess.  5:2.    ^  Matt.  24  :  27.    ^^  1  Thess.  5  :  3. 


RETimN    OF    CHRIST.  287 

the  birth,  not  without  the  long  since  imposed  tribute 
of  pain  and  sorrow.  Thus  through  the  whole  com- 
pass of  creation :  "  upon  earth  there  shall  be  distress 
of  nations,  with  perplexity ;  the  sea  and  the  waves 
roaring;  men's  hearts  failing  them  for  fear,  and 
for  looking  after  those  things  which  are  coming 
upon  the  earth ;  for  the  powers  of  heaven  shall  be 
shaken;^  but  the  Spirit  and  the  bride  (the  church 
of  Christ)  say :  Come !  .  .  .  Even  so,  come.  Lord 
Jesus."  2 

"Immediately  after  the  tribulation  of  those  days, 
shall  the  sun  he  darkened,  and  the  moon  shall  not  give 
her  light,  and  the  stars  shall  fall  from  heaven,  and  the 
powers  of  heaven  shall  be  shaken.  And  then  shall 
appear  the  sign  of  the  Son  of  7nan  in  heaven;  and 
then  shall  the  tribes  of  the  earth  mourn,  and  they 
shall  see  the  Son  of  man  comins:  in  the  clouds  of 
heaven  w^ith  power  and  great  glory.  And  he  shall 
send  his  angels  with  a  great  sound  of  a  trumpet,  and 
they  shall  gather  together  his  elect  from  the  four 
winds,  from  one  end  of  heaven  to  the  other."  ^  — 
"  The  Lord  himself  shall  descend  from  heaven  with 
a  shout,  with  the  voice  of  the  archangel,  and  with 
the  trump  of  God;  and  the  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise 
first :  then  we  which  are  alive  and  remain  shall  be 
caught  up  together  with  them  in  the  clouds,  to  meet 
the  Lord  in  the  air;  and  so  shall  we  ever  be  with  the 
Lord."*  "  The  day  of  the  Lord  will  come  as  a  thief 
in  the  night;  in  the  which  the  heavens  shall  pass 
away  with  a  great  noise,  and  the  elements  shall  melt 

•  Luke  21  :  25,  26.  2  j^g^  02  :  17-20. 

3  Matt.  24  :  29-31.  ^  1  Thess.  4  :  16, 17. 


288        BIBLICAL     THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

witli  fervent  heat,  the  earth  also  and  the  works  that 
are  therein  shall  be  burned  iip."^ 

The  Apostle  John  also  beheld  in  sublime  vision  the 
developments  of  this  last,  this  great  day:  "Fire  fell 
down  from  God  out  of  heaven,  and  devoured  the 
enemies  of  God.  .  .  .  And  I  saw  a  great  white  throne, 
and  him  that  sat  on  it,  from  whose  face  the  earth  and 
the  heaven  fled  away ;  and  there  was  found  no  place 
for  them.  And  I  saw  the  dead,  small  and  great, 
stand  before  God ;  and  the  books  were  opened.  .  .  . 
And  the  dead  were  judged  out  of  those  things  that 
were  written  in  the  books,  according  to  their  works. 
And  the  sea  gave  up  the  dead  which  were  in  it ;  and 
death  and  hell  delivered  up  the  dead  which  were  in 
them.  .  .  .  And  whosoever  was  not  found  w^ritten  in 
the  book  of  life  w^as  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire.  And 
I  saw  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth.  .  .  .  And  he 
that  sat  upon  the  throne  said.  Behold^  I  make  all 
things  new.''^ 

Thus  shall  "the  earnest  expectation  of  the  crea- 
ture," which  has  for  so  many  weary  ages  waited  "for 
the  maifestation  of  the  sons  of  God,"  finally  reach  its 
long  and  earnestly  desired  object;  for  "the  creature 
itself  also  shall  be  delivered  from  the  bondage  of 
corruption,  into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children 
of  God."  3 

Nature  was  created  with  the  capability  of  being 
developed  and  also  needing  development ;  it  fell  to 
the  lot  of  the  created  spirit  to  conduct  this  outer 
world,  this  material  creation,  to  its  highest  develop- 
ment, to  its  ultimate  and  absolute  state  of  perfection. 

>  2  Pet.  3  :  10.  ^  j^ev.  20  &  21.  '  Rom.  8  :  19-21. 


RETURN    OP     CHRIST.  289 

*We  see  this  end  now  in  part  reached.     A  curse,  fol- 
lowed with  devastating  ruin,  had  first  heen  brought 
into  this  terrestrial  region,  by  the  fall  of •  the  angels; 
and,  again   by  the  fall  of  man.     The  celestial  worlds, 
the  dwelling-places  of  the  angels,  had  also  suifered 
through  this  double  catastrophe  ;  not  positively,  but 
by  privation^  for  by  it  the  consummation  of  their  high 
and  perfect  development,  their  harmonious  connec- 
tion and  absolutely  perfect  state,  w\as  hindered.  Man 
had  taken  the  place  of  the  exiled  angels  ;  he  was  to 
fill  up  the  void,  to  check  the  disturbance,  and  restore 
the  universe  to  its  wonted  harmony.     But  instead  of 
so    doing,  he  himself  fell  as  the  angels  did  before 
him,  and  thus  dragged  the  earth  a  second  time  into 
devastating  ruin.     He  thus  became  absolutely  inca- 
pable of  fulfilling  his  mission.      Hence  Christy  the 
second  Adam,  came  in  the  stead  of  man,  to  renew 
and  complete  Avhat  man  had  destroyed  and  failed  of 
accomplishing — to  make  all  things  new — the  heavens 
and  the  earth.     He  was  to  finish  the  work  of  man, 
in  conducting  this  world  to  its  perfect  state,  and  thus 
establishing  harmony  between   our   and   all   other 
worlds.     But  this  could  no  longer  be  done  in  the 
method  originally  designed — by  a  quiet,  gradual  or- 
ganic development — for  this  method  h'ad  been  dis- 
turbed and  destroyed  by  the  entrance  of  sin.     No :  a 
new  development  was  demanded,  one  which  should 
complete  its  energetic  course  and  perfect  itself,  only  by 
breaking  out  in  the  appalling  catastrophe,  the  consum- 
ing and  purifying  fires  of  the  last  drnj.     But  "  a  neiu 
heaven  and  a  new  earth,''  purified  from  all  dross  and 
defilement,  shall  proceed  from  iho^Q  flaming  elements 


290        BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

— "  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  wherein  dwelleth 
righteousness."  ^ 

We  must  at  present,  however,  instead  of  permit- 
ting ourselves  to  be  further  carried  along  in  our  nar- 
rative, by  the  rapid  stream  of  startling  events  to  be 
disclosed  on  that  inconceivably  grand  and  majestic 
day — instead  of  proceeding  immediately  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  changes  which  that  day  shall  pro- 
duce in  the  condition  of  free^  personal  beings,  stop  a 
moment,  to  review  with  a  hasty  glance  the  coming 
changes  and  developments  in  material  nature,  which 
is  devoid  of  j^^^^sonalit^.  We  have  already  spoken  of 
these  changes  and  developments ;  it  remains  to  take 
into  more  detailed  and  careful  consideration,  the  dif- 
ficulties they  individually  present. 

>  2  Pet.  3  :  10-13  —  comp.  Is.  65  :  17 ;  Rev.  21  :  1. 

2  The  different  points  in  that  great  day  of  the  future  cannot  be 
separated  and  arranged  in  chronological  order.  It  is  scarcely  to 
be  expected  that  such  an  order  will  be  observed  in  the  realization 
of  the  events  predicted,  but  rather  that  all  will  take  place  at  once. 
The  appearance  of  the  Lord,  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  the  trans- 
formation of  the  yet  living,  the  purification  of  the  earth,  the  judg- 
ment, the  infliction  and  execution  of  the  sentence,  will  all  be  the  work 
of  an  indescribably  glorious  and  solemn  moment,  pregnant  with 
the  weal  and  woe  of  a  whole  eternity.  Just  as  the  sun,  appear- 
ing in  all  it«  magnificence  and  glory,  produces  a  thousand  difi'erent 
effects  at  the  same  time  and  by  the  same  power  —  here  causing  a 
germ  to  be  developed,  a  bud  to  unfold,  fruit  to  ripen,  the  well- 
watered  plains  to  abound  —  there,  the  nipped  blossom  to  fade,  the 
uprooted  tree  to  wither,  and  the  dry  fields  to  be  scorched — so  also 
shall  the  coming  of  the  everlasting,  uncreated  Sun,  in  all  his  ma- 
jesty, produce  all  at  once,  by  the  power  of  his  holiness,  according 
to  the  different  objects  affected  thereby,  the  various  effects  of  at- 
tracting and  repelling,  of  cheering  and  appalling,  of  blessing  and 
cursing,  of  purifying  and  consuming,  of  crowning  with  blessed- 
ness and  filling  with  woe. 


RETURN    OF    CHRIST.  291 

The  passages  of  Scripture  we  have  quoted  on  the 
last  two  or  three  pages,  evidently  describe  a  grand 
catastrophe  by  which  the  world  as  it  at  present  sub- 
sists, in  its  present  condition,  relations  and  connec- 
tions, is  to  be  brought  to  an  end.  From  one  point 
of  view,  this  catastrophe  may  be  regarded  as  a  des- 
truction of  the  world,  as  its  complete  overthrow.  But 
Prophecy  represents  the  end  of  the  present  economy 
as  the  commencement  of  a  new  order  of  things ;  it 
places,  side  by  side  with  the  destruction  of  the  pre- 
sent world,  the  rise  of  a  new  and  more  glorious  one. 
Only  when  we  keep  in  mind  both  sides  of  this  ques- 
tion, and  allow  each  aspect  its  proper  weight — when 
we  have  succeeded  in  combining  both  into  one  well- 
proportioned  (einheitlichen)  view — only  then,  may  we 
give  ourselves  credit  for  rightly  apprehending  the 
import  of  these  prophetic  touches.  But  this  is  no 
difficult  matter.  We  are  doubtless  to  recognize  in 
the  fires  of  the  last  day,  not  a  destructive,  but  a  puri- 
fying process,  just  as  ore  is  cast  into  the  furnace  not 
to  be  consumed  and  annihilated,  but  that  the  true 
metal  may  be  separated  from  the  dross,  and  come 
forth  pure  as  gold  seven  times  refined.  The  world 
itself  shall  not  cease  to  exist ;  its  present  faulty, 
marred  and  imperfect  condition,  merely,  shall  pass 
away.  That  existence  of  the  world  which  conforms 
to  its  original  creation  and  destiny,  shall  not  cease, 
but  merely  the  existence  of  whatever  belongs  to  it 
contrary  to  its  first  creation  and  destiny — the  whole 
Vv^eb  of  adverse  and  destructive  influences  and  agen- 
cies, all  incongruities  and  bad  properties  attached  to 
it  and  implanted  in  its  elements  by  the  false  and 


292  BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WOULD. 

godless  development  chosen  by  its  inhabitants,  to- 
gether with  all  that  is  faulty  and  imperfect  which 
has  been  prevented  from  being  set  aside  on  account 
of  the  presence  of  sin. 

That  the  sin-crushed  earth,  filled  with  death  and 
woe,  that  the  twice  ruined  earth,  with  its  lone  soli- 
tudes and  dreary  wastes,  with  its  storms  and  convul- 
sions, its  poisons  and  pestilences,  its  scathing  heat 
and  deadening  frosts,  w^ith  its  lawless  and  wildly 
raging  elements,  with  its  countless  perverted  ends 
and  agencies — that  this  earth  must,  before  it  passes 
into  its  state  of  ultimate  and  lasting  perfection  and 
becomes  the  happy  abode  of  man  redeemed,  be  sub- 
mitted to  a  purifying  and  renovating  process,  and 
that  this  process  can  only  take  place  and  be  perfected 
in  the  form  of  such  a  tremendous  and  awful  catas- 
trophe as  is  to  be  realized  on  the  last  day,  must  be 
of  itself  apparent  to  every  thoughtful  mind. 

But'  that  the  heavens,  the  lofty  abodes  of  those 
glorious  beings  which  have  been  true  to  their  des- 
tiny, have  kept  their  first  estate  and  ever  persevered 
in  unswerving  obedience  to  God,  that  the  heavens 
stand  in  need  of  the  renovating  powers  of  such  a 
catastrophe ;  —  that  the  stars  which  shine  with  such 
immortal  radiance  from  the  sweeping  arch  above  us, 
filling  every  beholder  with  the  deepest  sense  of  un- 
alloyed purity  and  unchangeable  stability,  of  the 
most  blessed  harmony  and  undisturbed  peace,  shall 
fall  from  heaven  and  lose  the  position  they  have  held 
for  thousands,  yea,  perhaps,  myriads  of  years — that 
the  powers  of  heaven,  w^hich  force  themselves  upon 
our  minds  as  the  types  and  representatives  of  all 


RETURN     OF     CHRIST.  293 

stability  and  perfection,  shall  be  shaken  and  moved; 
—  that  the  starry  canopy  yonder  above,  with  its 
countless  sparkling  gems,  shall  grow  old  like  an 
earthly  garment,  and  pass  away  that  it  may  be  re- 
newed in  greater  magnilieence  and  perfection  —  this 
all  does  not  strike  the  mind  as  quite  so  plain  and 
reasonable. 

Many  interpreters,  in  order  to  avoid  the  not  insig- 
nificant and  seemingly  insurmountable  difiiculties 
attending  a  literal  apprehension  of  the  text  of  the 
prophecy  here  concerned,  have  sought  to  avail  them- 
selves, by  way  of  remedy,  of  strange,  false,  artificial 
and  unnatural  interpretations. 

The  legitimacy  in  general  of  a  literal  interpreta- 
tion of  these  passages,  has  been  contested,  and  they 
have  been  held  as  symbolic  descriptions  of  subjective 
conditions  in  this  human  world.  It  is  indeed  not  to 
be  denied  that,  in  the  poetic  language  of  the  Old 
Testament,  the  obscuration  of  the  Jight  of  the  hea- 
venly bodies,  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  is  the 
image  and  comparison  under  which  the  extinction 
of  mortal  life  or  hope  in  individual  persons,  is  repre- 
sented;^ and  still  more  frequently,  the  image  to 
denote  calamities  and  judgments  visited  upon  whole 
states  or  nations.^  It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  more 
particularly  the  light  of  the  sun  is  used  as  the  sym- 
bol of  Divine  revelation,  and  the  light  of  the  moon 
to  represent  human  knowledge,  wisdom,  or  culture ;  ^ 

»  Eccles.  12  :  2 ;  Jer.  15  :  9. 

2  As,  for  example,  Is.  5  :  30  ;  13  :  10  ;  34 :  4 ;  Jer.  4  :  28  ;  Ezek. 
32  :  7,  8 ;  Amos  8:9;  Mich.  3  :  6. 

3  Rev.  12  :  1. 

25* 


294        BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

and  further,  that  the  stars  are  used  to  represent  the 
ministers  of  God's  Church  upon  earth — the  shining 
lights  in  the  firmament  of  the  Church.^'  ^  The  ap- 
pUcation  of  the  argument,  however,  drawn  from  a 
prophetic,  figurative  mode  of  speech,  is  not  admissi- 
ble in  the  present  case.  And  for  this  reason :  Every 
thing  that  is  intended  to  be  represented  in  Matthew 
24th,  which  is  the  chief  passage,  under  the  figure  of 
the  sun  and  moon  becoming  dark,  and  the  stars  fall- 
ing from  heaven,  has  been  spoken  of  previously  and 
in  another  place,  in  plain,  direct  and  unmistakable 
words,  as  something  entirely  different  from  and  not 
at  all  necessarily  connected  with  those  signs  in  the 
heavens.  It  is  also  further  to  be  observed  that  the 
doctrine  of  a  real  destruction  of  the  present  earth, 
followed  by  the  appearance  of  a  new  heaven  and  a 
new  earth,  pervades  all  Scripture,  and  is  often  men- 
tioned in  such  connection  and  with  such  clearness, 
that  it  becomes  wholly  impossible  to  interpret  the 
passage  in  a  figurative  or  symbolic  sense.^ — ^We  have 
just  the  same  reasons  for  believing  that  the  signs  of 
the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man,  the  fiilling  of  the 
stars  and  the  obscuration  of  the  sun  and  moon,  are 
to  be  real,  sensible  appearances  in  the  heavens,  as 

*  Compare  K.  Stier :  Die  Reden  des  Eerrn  Jesu,  vol.  II.,  p.  562. 

2  Dan.  8  :  10,  11 ;  Rev.  1  :  20.       . 

3  In  addition  to  the  passages  already  mentioned,  compare,  also, 
Joel  3  :  3,  4  ;  Haggai  2  :  6,  with  Heb.  12  :  26,  27  ;  Ps.  102  :  26-28 
and  Is.  34 :  4,  with  Rev.  6  :  12-14 ;  Matt.  5  :  19  seq.,  etc.  Comp., 
on  the  necessity  of  a  literal  interpretation,  /.  P.  Lange :  Lehen 
Jesu,  II.,  3,  p.  1273  seq.,  and  particularly  the  very  excellent  work 
by  J.  A.  L.  Hebart :  Die  ziveite  Zuhunft  Christi,  eine  Darstellung  der 
gesammten  hibl.  Eschatologie.     Erlang.,  1850. 


EETURN     OF     CHRIST.  295 

we  have  for  believing  that  the  star  in  the  east  at  the 
birth  of  Christ,  and  the  obscuration  of  the  sun  at 
his  death,  were  real,  outward,  visible  appearances. 
The  truth  with  regard  to  the  contested  figurative 
apprehension  is  just  this,  that  those  appearances  in 
the  heavens  leave  us  room  to  assume  the  existence 
of  corresponding  facts  upon  earth  and  among  men, 
since  heaven  and  earth,  spirit  and  nature  —  mind 
and  matter — form  one  closely  connected  and  related 
whole.  But  such  an  assumption  is  altogether  unne- 
cessar}^,  for  these  passages  themselves  teach  plainly 
and  in  direct  terms,  the  real  existence  of  such  cor- 
responding facts  (earthquakes,  famines,  pestilences, 
wars  and  rumors  of  wars). 

Another  misinterpretation  of  these  passages  vir- 
tually (but  undesignedly)  reduces  the  reality  of  the 
occurrences  foretold  into  a  mere  illusory  pretence  or 
show,  and  resolves  their  objective  actuality  into  mere 
subjective  perceptions.^  The  heavens,  it  would  be 
maintained,  are  not  to  be  renewed  really,  in  and  of 
themselves,  according  to  their  own  proper  nature  and 
constitution,  but  shall  merely  present  themselves  as 
being  so  renewed,  to  the  perceptions  of  men :  they 
shall  not  themselves  be  changed,  but  merely  the 
medium  through  which  we  view  them.     It  is,  to  say 

'  Thus  J.  P.  Lange,  Verm.  Schriften  II.,  p.  249 :  "  In  the  same 
sense  that  the  creation  of  the  heavens  is  involved  in  the  creation  of 
the  earth,  in  Gen.  1st,  so  that  the  pre-existence  of  the  stars  is  not 
contradicted  by  the  fact  that  they  are  first  noticed  as  they  appeared 
in  relation  to  the  earth,  on  the  fourth  day,  when  the  atmosphere 
became  purer  and  more  homogeneous,  so  also  may  it  be  spoken  of 
the  new  Jieavens  in  connection  with  the  new  earth. 


296         BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    AV  0  B  L  D  . 

the  least,  probable  that  we  sliall  be  enabled,  by  the 
transformation  and  re-monlding  of  the  earth  and  its 
atmosphere,  as  well  as  by  the  perfecting  of  our 
powers  of  vision,  and  the  increase  of  om'  mental  capa- 
cities which  we  may  reasonably  hope  hereafter  to 
experience  —  that  we  shall  be  at  once  enabled  by  all 
these,  to  see  the  form,  the  splendor  and  glory  of  the 
heavens,  much  more  distinctly,  and  with  a  more 
comprehensive  range  of  vision  than  at  present.  And 
just  here  lies  the  truth  contained  in  this  false  appre- 
hension of  the  passages  before  us.  But  it  explains 
but  one  aspect  of  what  is  foretold — the  renovation  of 
the  heavens  —  and  this  one  but  halfway.  The  grand, 
the  real  difficulty — that  the  heavens  shall  grow  old, 
be  changed,  and  vanish  away,  as  is  so  distinctly  and 
unmistakably  foretold  —  still  remains  altogether  un- 
explained, and  still  calling  for  solution. 

A  third,  and  no  less  objectionable  interpretation, 
would  limit  the  puritying  and  renovating  process  of 
the  last  day,  to  our  earth  with  its  planetary  heavens, 
just  as  the  fourth  day's  work  of  the  Hexsemeron  is 
sought  to  be  confined  to  the  creation  of  the  solar 
system.  "With  respect,  therefore,  to  the  point  before 
us — the  destruction  of  the  heavens — it  is  said  we  are 
to  understand  the  Scriptures  as  speaking  of  our 
planetary  heavens  alone.  But  as  we  previously  found 
the  view  respecting  such  a  limitation  of  the  fourth 
day's  work  to  be  inadmissible  (§  4),  we  now  find  this 
kindred  view  much  more  objectionable  still.  For 
the  advantage  that  we  would  be  enabled,  by  assum- 
ing the  latter,  far  more  easily  to  grasp  the  catastrophe 
which  is  to  take  place  in  the  heavens,  will  never  jus- 


RETURN     OF     CHRIST.  297 

tify  US  in  arbitrarily  limiting  the  application  of  words 
which  treat  of  the  tvhole  created  heavens,  and  which 
are  in  themselves  so  clear  and  unmistakable.  But 
still,  this  view,  also,  may  contain  its  measure  of 
truth.  For  it  is  possible,  3^ea,  even  probable,  that 
by  means  of  the  close  connexion,  by  means  of 
the  articulate  organization  which  obtains  in  our 
solar  system,  the  effects  of  the  catastrophe  which 
twice  involved  the  earth  in  ruin,  may  have  extended 
themselves  more  or  less  to  the  neighboring  members 
of  the  system  ;  that  the  surges  of  that  disastrous 
flood  may  have  reached  even  to  the  outermost  boun- 
dary of  this  special  province  of  the  universe.  If 
such  be  indeed  the  fact,  we  can  easily  perceive  that 
the  final  catastrophe  of  the  judgment  day,  must  also 
assume  a  different  character  here,  from  what  it  will 
present  in  the  worlds  contained  in  the  heavens  of  the 
fixed  stars — worlds  which  have  not  been  immediately 
affected  by  blight  of  sin  and  death.  We  can  also 
farther  perceive,  why  the  transformation  and  renova- 
tion of  the  lower,  the  planetary/  heavens,  which  are 
to  be  placed  in  somewhat  the  same  category  as  the 
earth,  should  be  specially  thorough  and  attended 
with  astonishing  displays  of  power. 

But  we  must  not,  however,  give  up  this  point, 
that  the  whole  heavens,  with  all  their  hosts  of  stars, 
are  to  be  subjected  to  an  effectual  change  and  trans- 
formation of  their  whole  complexion  and  arrange- 
ment, of  their  mutual  relations  and  references,  but 
specially  of  their  relations  and  references  towards  the 
earth ;  and  that  hence,  in  spite  of  all  the  complete- 
ness which  now  obtains  in  the  heavens,  and  in  spite 


298        BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

of  all  the  excellence  and  blessedness  of  their  present 
inhabitants,  there  is  still  demanded  such  a  change 
and  transformation  as  we  have  mentioned — a  renova- 
tion and  perfecting  of  the  heavens  themselves. 

In  accordance  with  this  view,  we  are  compelled  to 
assume  that  the  present  perfection  of  the  heavens  is 
not  an  absolute  but  merely  a  relative  perfection  — 
that  flaws  and  defects  still  cleave  to  the  heavens,  so 
that,  as  says  Job,  "  the  stars  also  are  not  pure  in  his 
sight "  (25  :  5).  But  this  must  be  allowed  at  the  out- 
set, that  this  imperfection  consists  not  in  the  abstrac- 
tion of  a  degree  of  perfection  originally  possessed 
and  received  at  the  creation,  but  merely  in  the  priva- 
tion of  that  degree  of  perfection  in  the  heavens 
which  it  was  designed  they  should  attain  —  that  they 
were  not  subjected  to  ruin  through  the  sin  and  revolt 
of  their  inhabitants  (as  was  the  case  with  the  earth), 
but  were,  by  some  circumstance  or  other,  stopt  or 
impeded  in  that  course  of  development  by  which 
they  were  to  arrive  at  a  state  of  absolute  perfection  ; 
so  that  they  might  now  reach  that  goal,  only  through 
the  powerful  coming  of  Christ  to  close  up  the  affairs  of 
this  world  and  renew  both  the  heavens  and  the  earth. 

These  delaying  circumstances  are  involved  in  the 
fact  that  the  whole  universe  is  one  organic  whole,  so 
that  one  part  of  it  cannot  be  brought  into  an  abso- 
lutely perfect  condition,  while  another  part  still 
remains  imperfect — that  disharmony  was  introduced 
into  the  music  of  the  spheres,  first,  by  the  fall  of 
part  of  the  angels,  and  again,  by  the  fall  of  man ; 
and  that  the  good  angels  also,  with  the  worlds  they 
inhabit,  while  waiting  for  the  judgment  of  the  great 


RETURN     OF     CHRIST.  299 

day,  are  kept  in  a  state  of  anxious  expectation  or 
delay.  The  more  important  the  original  position 
and  the  abode  of  the  fallen  angels,  the  more  signifi- 
cantly and  influentially,  thereupon,  man  and  his 
history  were  destined  to  be  involved  in  the  further 
development  of  the  universe  (§  19),  so  much  the 
greater  must  have  been  that  disturbance  which  in- 
troduced such  a  discord  into  the  harmony  of  the 
whole,  which  caused  such  a  breach,  such  a  chasm  in 
the  integrity  of  the  whole ;  and  so  much  more  op- 
pressively must  its  attendant  sinister  influences  have 
borne  upon  the  holy  angels  and  their  blessed  abodes. 
But  now,  when  at  the  end  of  this  world's  course  the 
judgment  is  set,  when  Christ  the  Lord  shall  separate 
the  good  from  the  bad  elements,  by  the  purifying 
fires  of  the  great  day,  when  he  shall  burst  the  ham- 
pering bonds  of  the  development,  renew  and  reju- 
venate in  the  creature  the  divine  powers  of  life  — 
then,  sudden  as  a  flash  shall  the  hidden  and  retarded 
perfecting  process  of  the  universe  burst  on  the  sight, 
in  the  form  of  one  nniversal  catastrophe,  and  then 
shall  all  the  relations  of  the  heavens  to  themselves 
and  to  the  earth  be  changed  and  newly  established. 
The  objective  point  in  the  prospective  transforma- 
tion and  renovation  of  the  heavens  is  this :  the  hea- 
vens shall  really  be  changed  in  their  whole  complex 
cast  and  character,  so  as  to  form  a  new  and  a  difterent 
heavens.  But  this  change  may,  indeed,  as  all  will 
allow,  involve  a  subjective  point  also  —  the  whole 
aspect  of  the  heavens  as  they  appear  to  the  eye,  as 
well  as  the  impression  they  produce  upon  the  mind, 
may  be  very  diflerent,  since  the  powers  of  human 


300         BIBLICAL     THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

vision  arc  to  be  increased  and  the  capacities  of  the 
miud  exalted ;  —  while,  on  the  other  hand,  it  may 
very  easily  be  the  case  that  the  catastrophe  will 
assume  a  more  mild  and  peaceful  character  in  the 
worlds  of  the  upper  heavens,  than  in  the  lower  ones 
of  the  solar  system,  which  stand  so  closely  related  to 
our  earth,  and  which  hence  have  perhaps  been  more 
or  less  involved  in  the  ruin  brought  upon  the  planet 
earth. 

The  conflagration  of  the  world,  regarded  as  a 
purifying  process,  is  to  separate  all  the  good  from 
the  bad  elements  in  thew^orld;  it  is  to  purify  the 
true  and  noble  metal  from  all  admixture  and  defile- 
ment of  dross.  All  the  elements  in  the  w^orld  which 
Satan  may  with  right  call  his  otvn,  all  dross  and  im- 
purities which  are  not  capable  of  being  renewed  and 
ennobled,  shall  be  returned  to  him  as  his  peculiar 
possession.  And  they  probably  shall  constitute  the 
eternal  abode  of  this  arch-fiend  and  all  his  followers 
— that  abode  called  figuratively  by  the  Apostle  John, 
"  a  lake  of  fire  and  brimstone,"-  described  by  Christ, 
as  a  place  of  "  outer  darkness,  where  there  shall  be 
weeping,  and  wailing,  and  gnashing  of  teeth,"  ^  and 
by  Peter,  as  a  place  of  "the  mist  of  everlasting 
darkness."^ 

Thus  are  the  heavens  and  the  earth  to  be  tho- 
roughly purified  by  the  fires  of  the  last  day,  and  at 
length  reach  a  state  of  high,  complete,  and  everabid- 
ing  perfection,  in  which  all  members  shall  be  organi- 
cally united  with  the  whole,  and  where  universal 
peace  and  harmony  shall  prevail.     Thus  is  the  earth 

1  Kev.  19  :  20 :  20  :  10.        «  jvjark  8  :  12.         ^  2  Pet.  2  :  17. 


JUDGMENT     AND     CONSUMMATION.  301 

to  become,  in  accordance  with  its  original  destiny, 
the  central  and  culminating  point  of  the  whole 
universe,  the  throne  of  the  most  immediate  presence 
of  God  w^ithin  the  sphere  of  the  created.  For,  says 
St.  John  the  Diyine :  ^  "  And  I  saw  a  new  heaven 
and  a  new  earth ;  for  the  first  heaven  and  the  first 
earth  were  passed  away ;  and  there  was  no  more  sea. 
And  I  John  saw  the  holy  city,  the  new  Jernsalem, 
coming  down  from  God  out  of  heaven,  prepared  as 
a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband.  And  I  heard  a 
great  voice  out  of  heaven,  saying.  Behold,  the  taber- 
nacle of  God  is  with  men,^  and  he  will  dwell  with 
them,  and  they  shall  be  his  people,  and  God  him- 
self shall  be  witn  them,  and  be  their  God.  .  .  .  And 

1  saw  no  temple  therein  :  for  the  Lord  God  Almighty 
and  the  Lamb  are  the  temple  of  it.  And  the  city 
had  no  need  of  the  sun,  neither  of  tne  moon,  to 
shine  in  it :  for  the  glory  of  God  did  lighten  it,  and 
the  Lamb  is  the  light  thereof." 

§  35.    The  Judgment  and  the  Eternal  Consummation, 

A  similar  separation  between  the  good  and  the 
bad — the  godly  and  the  godless  —  shall  take  place  in 
the  world  of  spirits,  through  the  great  judgment  of 

1  Rev.  21  :  1  seq. 

2  As  to  the  signification  of  the  expressions  here  used:  "the 
new  Jerusalem,"  "the  holy  city,"  "the  tabernacle  of  God  with 
men,"  compare  my  Lehrhuch  der  Jieil.  Geschiclite,  6th  ed.,  |  201, 

2  Anm.  It  is  there  supposed  that  the  symbolico-typical  significa- 
tion of  the  tabernacle,  of  the  temple,  and  the  holy  city,  as  the 
place  where  God  dwells  with  his  people,  here  attains  its  highest, 
most  comprehensive,  and  glorious  fulfilment,  its  most  complete 
realization. 

26 


302         BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

the  last  day.  "  The  hour  is  comuig,  in  the  which,  all 
that  are  in  the  graves  shall  hear  his  voice,  and  shall 
come  forth ;  they  that  have  done  good,  unto  the  re- 
surrection of  life  ;  and  they  that  have  done  evil,  unto 
the  resurrection  of  damnation."^  All  who  have  died 
shall,  hence,  come  again  to  life — the  ungodly,  that 
they,  too,  may  attain  their  unchangeable  state,  their 
consummation  —  in  eternal  damnation.  They,  not 
having  been  united  to  Christ,  cannot  have  their 
bodies  chans^ed  and  fashioned  like  unto  Christ's 
glorified  body.  E'o  :  they  must  receive  bodies  con- 
formable to  their  spiritual  condition ;  bodies  which 
shall  be  to  themselves  media  of  pain  and  condemna- 
tion, just  as  the  bodies  of  the  righteous,  "  fashioned 
like  unto  Christ's  glorious  body,"^  shall  be  to  them 
media  of  enjoyment  and  blessedness. 

"Flesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of 
God;  neither  doth  corruption  inherit  incorruption."^ 
Hence  the  necessity  that  those  who  still  remain  alive 
at  the  end  of  the  world,  should  be  subjected  to  some 
great  and  sudden  change,  in  order  that  they  may  be 
advanced  to  the  perfected  state  of  those  who  shall 
rise  from  their  srraves.  Paul  lifts  the  veil  from  this 
mystery :  ^  "  We  shall  not  all  sleep,  but  we  shall  all  be 
changed,  in  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye, 
at  the  last  trump ;  for  the  trumpet  shall  sound,  and 
w^e  shall  be  raised  incorruptible,  and  we  shall  be 
changed."  The  terrors  of  death,^  the  abhorrent 
dread  of  corruption,  and  the  transport  of  being  glori- 
fied, are  all  here  concentrated  and  combined  in  the 
very  moment  of  the  great  change. 

'  John  5  :  28,  29.  ^  p^ii.  3  :  21.  ^  ]  Cor.  15  :  50. 

4  Verses  51  &  52.  ^  r^j^,,  5  .  12. 


JUDGMENT     4ND    CONSUMMATION.  303 

As  to  the  nature  and  constitution  of  the  dorified 
bodies  of  the  righteous,  we  may  learn  much  from 
the  accounts  the  evangelists  have  given  us,  of  the 
appearance  of  the  risen  Redeemer,  since  we  are  jus- 
tified upon  the  authority  of  the  promise  in  Phil.  3  : 
21,  ("he  shall  change  our  vile  hody,  that  it  may  be 
fashioned  like  unto  his  glorious  body;  ")  in  referring 
to  the  risen  bodies  of  the  saints,  the  qualities  and 
characteristics  which  belong  to  his  glorified  body.  In 
this  connection,  we  may  specially  mention,  the  un- 
expected appearance  of  our  Lord  to  his  disciples, 
when  the  doors  were  shut,  his  frequent  sudden  ap- 
pearance to  them,  and  his  equally  sudden  disappear- 
ance from  their  sight,  and  also,  that  he  was  custom- 
arily and  without  any  apparent  design  on  his  part, 
invisible  to  mortal  eyes,  etc.  We  may  hence  regard 
these  as  natural  peculiarities  of  the  glorified  body; 
that  its  material  composition  is  of  the  most  refined 
and  exquisite  character,  and  of  a  nature  so  spiritual 
and  ethereal,  as  not  to  be  grasped  by  our  senses  as 
they  are  at  present  constituted;  that  it  is  highlv 
raised  above  the  cramping  conditions  and  circum- 
stances of  the  present  life  of  the  body ;  that  it  is 
altogether  free  from  the  bonds  and  impediments 
necessarily  belonging  to  "this  tabernacle  of  clay ;  " 
that  it  serves  with  alacrity  and  unconditionally  obeys 
every  motion  or  command  of  the  in-dwelling  spirit, 
and  that,  even  in  the  ranging  flight  of  thought,  the 
mind  may  still  be  attended  by  the  willing  and  easy 
services  of  the  body. 

The  Apostle  Paul,  in  particular,  gives  us,  in  1st 
Cor.  15th  chapter,  still  further  and  more  explicit  infor- 


304        BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

mation  on  this  point.  "It  is  sown,"  says  he,  "in  cor- 
ruption, it  is  raised  in  incorruption :  it  is  sown  in  dis- 
honor, it  is  raised  in  glory :  it  is  sow^n  in  w^eakness, 
it  is  raised  \i\  poiver :  it  is  sown  a  natural  bod}^,  it  is 
raised  a  spiritual  body."  Finally,  w^e  must  here  once 
more  remember  the  words  of  our  Lord :  "  In  the 
resurrection  they  neither  marry  nor  are  given  in 
marriage,  but  are  as  the  angels  of  God  in  heaven." 

Perhaps  w^e  may  succeed  in  drawing  from  these 
known  circumstances  of  glorified  human  bodies, 
some  adequate  conclusions  as  to  the  nature  and  cir- 
cumstances of  the  earth,  after  it  shall  have  been 
purified  and  renewed.  We  may,  with  good  reason, 
as  we  think,  suppose  that  the  prospectively  new  earth 
is  to  be  purified,  ennobled  and  glorified,  in  an  analo- 
gous manner  and  to  the  same  degree,  as  our  corpo- 
i-eal  frames ;  and  that  our  future  glorified  bodies 
shall  bear  the  same  relation  to  the  material  of  the 
then  glorious  earth,  wdiich  now  exists  betw^een  our 
present  bodies  and  the  elements  of  the  earth  as  it 
now  subsists. 

The  judgment  of  men  virtually  takes  place  in  the 
resurrection  itself,  since  the  bodies  they  then  indi- 
vidually receive,  have  alread}^  enstamped  upon  them, 
the  marks  which  characterize  the  results  of  the  judg- 
ment in  each  particular  case.  But  to  the  prophet's 
mind,  as  to  the  human  mind  generally,  the  single 
points  in  this  great  closing  scene,  which  the  exalted 
Son  of  Man  shall  carry  through  all  together,  as 
though  they  called  for  but  one  exercise  of  his  power, 
must  appear  separately  and  in  due  order.  Hence 
the  judgment   is   represented  by   the    prophet,    as 


JUDGMENT    AND    CONSUMMATION.  o05 

something  diiferent  from  and  subsequent  to  the 
resurrection. 

The  true  nature  of  the  last  judgment  is  best 
learned  from  the  parable  of  the  division  of  the  sheep 
from  the  goats.^  "  Come  ye  blessed  of  my  Father, 
inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for  }■  ou,  from  the  foun- 
dation of  the  world;"  and  '^ Depart  from  me,  ye 
cursed,  into  everlasting  fire,  prepared  for  the  devil 
and  his  angels." 

But  as  the  final  catastrophe  in  the  material  crea- 
tion, which  is  devoid  of  all  personality,  is  to  be  wide- 
spread and  general,  is  to  stretch  itself  over  the  whole 
universe,  aftecting  both  the  heavens  and  the  earth, 
so  also  the  last  judgment  is  not  to  be  confined  alone 
to  men,  but  is  to  embrace  the  angels  also,  in  its 
solemn,  all-disposing,  and  closing  process.  As  the 
judgment  in  the  case  of  the  redeemed  will  be  no 
judgment,  inasmuch  as  they  retain  no  sin  for  which 
they  might  be  judged,  and  yet  still  a  judgment,  since 
it  will  deliver  them  from  all  the  evils  inseparably 
connected  with  sin  and  death,  so  also  shall  it  be  in 
the  case  of  the  angels  of  God.  Thus,  then,  may  it 
be  explained,  how  the  latter  are  represented  hj  the 
Scriptures,  as  being,  on  the  one  hand,  objects  of  the 
judicial  process,  and  on  the  other,  as  subjects  actively 
engaged  in  carr^'ing  on  this  process.  It  is  said  of  the 
angels,  Matt.  13  :  49,  "They  shall  come  forth  and  sever 
the  wicked  from  among  the  just;"  and  the  saints  are  re- 
presented as  being  helpers  and  co-workers  with  Christ 
in  the  work  of  judgment,  as  being  those  whom  he  is 
not  ashamed  to  call  brethren,  to  whom  also,  as  mem- 

'  Matt.  25  :  31  seq. 
26* 


306        BIBLICAL     THEOKY    OP     THE    WORLD. 

Lers  of  his  body,  he  will  give  an  interest  in  all  his 
glorj.^  Christ  himself,  speaking  to  his  disciples,  says  : 
"  Yerily,  I  say  nnto  you.  That  ye  which  have  fol- 
lowed me  in  the  regeneration,  when  the  Son  of  Man 
shall  sit  in  the  throne  of  his  glory,  ye  also  shall  sit 
upon  twelve  thrones,  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of 
Israel"^ — and  the  Apostle  Paul  appeals  to  the  Co- 
rinthians: "Know  ye  not  that  the  saints  shall  judge 
the  world?"  .  .  .  "Know  ye  not  that  we  shall  judge 
angels?"-'^ 

Thus  do  we  see  Satan's  project,  so  long  and  ar- 
dently pushed,  brought  to  a  fruitless  end ;  the  final 
sentence  of  judgment  pronounced  and  executed. 
"We  see  man  also,  whom  he  had  dazzled  w^ith  the 
delusive  prospect  of  becoming,  by  rebellion  against 
God,  as  Grod,  made,  through  the  boundless  grace  of 
God  in  Christ,  partaker  of  all  the  glory  and  blessed- 
ness of  the  Deity.  For  God  has  become,  for  time 
and  eternity,  as  man,  so  that  man  might  for  eternity 
become  as  God. 

Christ  in  anticipation  of  this  time  says,  in  his  in- 
tercessory prayer:"^  "The  glory  which  thou  gavest 
me  I  have  given  them,  that  they  may  be  one,  eveti  as 
we  are  one.  I  in  them,  and  thou  in  7ne,  that  they  may 
be  made  perfect  in  one ;  and  that  the  world  may 
know  that  thou  hast  sent  me,  and  hast  loved  them 
as  thou  hast  loved  me,"  &c.  Paul  says,  Eom.  8  :  17, 
that  as  children  of  God  we  are  also  "  heirs  of  God 
and  joint-heirs  with  Christ;''  —  the  Apostle  John 
affirms   that   "we  shall  be  like  Him,"^  and  Peter 

1  John  17  :  20  seq.  ^  Matt.  19  :  28.  ^  1  Cor.  6  :  2,  3. 

4  John  17.  ^  1  John  3  :  2. 


JUDGMENT    AND    CONSUMMATION.  307 

speaks  of  "  exceeding  great  and  precious  promises, 
through  which  we  may  be  j^ar^a^ers  of  the  Divine 
nature.''  ^ 

The  great  judgment  shall  close  the  present  and 
introduce  the  future  age  of  the  world.  The  grand 
characteristic  of  this  future  age  shall  consist  in  this, 
that  time  shall  then  be  absorbed  into  eternity  and 
become  one  with  it.  Time  shall  not  cease  to  be 
time,  any  more  than  the  creature  shall  cease  to  be  a 
creature ;  for  time  and  the  creature  are  correlatives 
which  may  never  be  separated — neither  of  them  can 
exist  without  the  other.  But  time,  by  merging  into 
eternity,  shall  partake  of  all  the  attributes  of  eternity, 
just  as  the  humanity  of  Christ,  since  his  exaltation 
to  the  right  hand  of  the  Father,  partakes  of  all  the 
attributes  belonging  to  the  Godhead  of  the  Son,  with 
which  this  humanity  is  personally  united;  and  just 
as  we  also,  through  the  mediation  of  this  humanity, 
shall  become  partakers  of  the  Divine  nature.  Thus 
shall  all  historical  developments,  all  changes,  be 
brought  forever  to  a  close.  The  creature  shall  have 
reached  a  state  of  the  fullest  and  closest  commu- 
nion with  God,  the  state  for  which  it  was  originally 
destined  (and  beyond  which  no  higher  development 
is  possible  or  conceivable) ;  or — in  case  it  have  per- 
sistently refused  the  saving  grace  of  God  —  a  state 
of  absolute  separation  from  God  (such  as  cuts  off  all 
possibility  of  a  return  to  him  or  re-union  with  him). 

'  2  Pet.  1  :  4. 


308        BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

§  36.  Retrospective  Glance  at  the  Position  of  the  Angels. 

AVe  shall  close  the  present  chapter  with  a  retro- 
spective glance  at  the  position  of  the  angels  in  rela- 
tion to  that  of  nian.^ 

We  are  accustomed,  without  special  thought  on 
the  subject,  to  look  on  the  angels  as  beings  of  a 
superior  nature,  as  holy  and  blessed  spirits,  who 
surpass  us  as  much  in  power  and  glory  as  heaven 
does  the  earth.  And  this  view  is  undoubtedly  the 
correct  one,  so  long  as  it  proceeds  from  the  contrasted 
present  conditions  of  angels  and  men.  For  the 
Scriptures  give  to  man  in  his  present  state,  where  he 
is  subject  to  the  curse,  and  groans  beneath  the  bur- 
den of  his  sins,  a  position  far  below  that  of  the 
angels,  whom  they  set  up  on  high  as  principalities 
and  powers,  as  mighty  champions  of  God,  who 
esteem  it  their  highest  honor  to  execute  his  com- 
mands and  exercise  toward  him  adoring  love ;  as 
the  heavenly  hosts,  from  whom  the  king  of  the  whole 
universe  does  not  disdain  to  borrow  one  of  his  names 
(Jehovah  Sabaoth). 

But  whether,  hence,  this  present  superior  might 
and  dignity,  is  necessarily  possessed  by  the  angels, 
so  that  it  shall  outlive  all  developments  and  changes  ; 

*  The  position  of  tlie  angels  in  the  economy  of  tlie  universe  has 
seldom  been  sufficiently  regarded.  The  old  Protestant  theology, 
however  well  it  did  in  frowning  down  upon  angel-olatry,  never- 
theless does  not  seem  to  have  arrived  at  a  clear  and  unprejudiced 
apprehension  of  the  Biblical  doctrine  of  the  angels.  As  to  our 
view  of  the  relation  of  men  and  angels,  it  is  essentially  agreed 
with  by  Molitor,  Philos.  der  GescJiichte,  II.,  p.  115,  obs. ;  Ebrard, 
p.  57  seq. ;  Martensen,  Chr.  Dogmatic.^  Kiel,  1850,  p.  153  seq. 


POSITION       OF    THE    ANGELS.  309 

whether  it  he  grounded  in  their  original  nature,  in 
the  very  essence  of  their  heing  as  given  them  at 
their  creation,  and  shall  hence  outlast  all  develop- 
ments and  manifest  itself  in  eternity — this  is  another 
question,  and  one  to  which  upon  the  ground  of 
Divine  revelation,  and  in  opposition  to  generally 
received  notions,  we  must  oppose  a  most  decided 
negative. 

It  cannot,  indeed,  he  denied,  on  the  one  hand, 
that  the  nature  with  which  the  angels  were  endowed 
at  their  creation,  was  relatively  superior  to  that  of 
man — that  it  was  a  nature  already  unfolded  through 
the  creation  itself.  This  admission  is  founded  on 
the  fact  that  the  angels,  being  created  without  sex, 
undoubtedly  possessed  from  the  first,  all  the  advan- 
tages arising  from  a  provision  so  unlike  that  in  the 
human  economy  —  advantages  which  man  was  to 
attain  only  at  the  end  of  his  development.  But  this 
was  not  an  advantage  absolutely,  but  merely  rela- 
tively, and  was  more  than  balanced  by  correspond- 
ing advantages  in  the  human  race,  arising  from  the 
possession  of  sexuality  (compare  §  16-18). 

But  man,  on  the  other. hand,  was  created  in  the 
image  of  God,  as  his  deputy  and  representative,  and 
was  from  the  very  beginning  destined  for  a  calling 
far  above  that  of  any  angel.  From  this  original 
position,  from  this  high  dignity,  he  fell  into  an  estate 
of  sin,  misery,  and  death.  But  for  the  very  reason 
that  liis  original  position  was  so  all-important,  not 
only  with  respect  to  this  world  which  was  assigned 
to  him  as  a  place  of  abode  and  a  place  where  to  em- 
ploy his  activities,  but  also  in  respect  to  the  whole 
universe — for  this  very  reason  did  God  himself  take 


310        BIBLICAL    THEORY    OF    THE    WORLD. 

his  place,  become  man  here  upon  earth,  in  order  to 
redeem  man,  and,  with  man  redeemed,  reach  the 
pre-determined  goah  Were  man  indeed  the  least 
of  all  creatures,  in  respect  to  his  original  position, 
the  wonderful  fact,  that  God  became  man,  that  he 
took  human  nature  into  personal  union  with  him- 
self, and  that  he  shall  henceforth  ever  remain  God- 
man —  this  fact  alone  is  enough  to  raise  man  to  a 
position  of  dignity,  honor  and  significance,  far  above 
that  of  any  other  created  being. 

And  is  it  possible  that  we  can  still  cherish  doubts 
as  to  the  new,  unparalleled  and  sublime  position  to 
wdiich  man  is  to  be  raised  by  redemption,  when  we 
reflect  that  he  is  to  be  adopted  as  a  son  into  the 
family  of  God,  to  become  an  heir  of  God,  and  a 
joint-heir  with  Christ ;  ^  that  he  is  destined  to  become 
one  with  t]:ie  Father  through  the  Son,  as  the  Son  is 

^  ["If  human  nature  had,  in  its  native  construction,  lacked  anj' 
capital  element  —  intellectual  or  moral  —  that  is  possessed  by 
higher  orders,  it  could  not  have  admitted  of  such  an  alliance  as  it 
has  (with  Divinity).  .  .  .  Is  it  asked  on  any  side,  v^hat  do  vre 
mean  —  what  do  v^^e  pretend  to,  when  we  speak  at  large  of  glory, 
honor,  immortality  ;  or  of  a  crown  of  life,  or  of  being  constituted 
kings  and  priests  unto  God;  or  of  sitting  on  thrones  to  exercise 
powers  of  judgment,  even  over  superior  natures?  We  reply 
at  once,  that  we  pretend  to  whatever  is  involved  in  the  union  of 
the  members  with  the  Head  —  that  Head  being  divine;  and  avo 
expect  whatever  may  fairly  be  presumed  when  it  is  said  of  all 
believers,  that  they  shall  be  'like  Ilim,'  and  near  Him  (as  his 
kinsmen),  who  is  the  '  brightness  of  the  Father's  glory,  and  the 
express  image  of  his  person."  .  .  "  In  the  scheme  of  redemp- 
tion, the  original  purpose  of  the  Creator,  when  he  said  :  'Let  us 
make  man  in  our  image,'  is  at  once  expounded  and  authenticated, 
and  it  is  seen  that  nothing  great  or  illustrious  was  to  be  denied 
him." — Isaac  Taylor,  Saturday  Evening,  pp.  317-347. — Tr]. 


POSITION    OF     THE     ANGELS.  311 

one  with  the  Father,  and  to  be  made  a  partaker  of  the 
Divine  nature  ?  when  we  consider  that  the  office  of 
judging  the  AvorkI,  yea,  of  judging  angels  them- 
selves, is  to  be  entrusted  to  the  saints  ? 

Angels,  on  the  contrary,  are  never  represented  as 
being  the  oiFspring  of  God,  as  bearing  the  image  of 
God  in  that  eminent  sense  applicable  to  man  —  an 
image  that  rendered  possible,  yea,  even  shadowed 
forth  and  realized  beforehand,  as  it  w^ere,  the  incar- 
nation of  God.  They  are  never  spoken  of  as  the 
rulers  and  judges  of  the  world,  as  co-heirs  with 
Christ,  and  brethren  of  our  Lord ;  or  as  partakers 
of  the  Divine  nature.  I^To  :  they  were  created  as 
7nessengers  of  Crody  as  nmiistering  spirits^  sent  forth 
to  minister  to  tltem  who  shall  be  heirs  of  salvation. 

The  second  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews, 
bears  direct  testimony  to  the  correctness  of  the  views 
we  have  advanced.  The  Apostle  there,  by  the  ap- 
plication of  the  8th  Psalm  to  Christ,  infers  the 
superiority  of  his  human  nature  over  the  nature  of 
the  angels.  But  all  that  holds  good  of  the  human 
nature  of  Christ  the  Son  of  man,  the  second  Adam, 
also  holds  good  of  all  believers,  for  they  are  all  cre- 
ated anew  in  him,  and  shall  bear  the  image  of  the 
heavenly,  just  as  they  have  borne  the  image  of  the 
earthly.'  To  whatever  sublime  height  the  human 
nature  of  Christ  is  raised,  by  means  of  its  personal 
oneness  with  the  Godhead,  above  angels  and  arch- 
angels, equally  high  shall  the  faithful  of  the  Is'ew 
CoA-enant,  the  members  of  the  body  of  Christ,  be 
raised  hereafter  (when  they  shall  be  made  perfect) 
above  all  angels  and  qyqyj  living  creature. 

'  1  Cor.  15  :  49. 


CHAPTER   FIFTH. 
ASTRONOMICAL    INVESTIGATIONS   AND    RESULTS. 

*'  Non  propterea  abjicienda  est  doctrina  certa  et  utilis  vitae,  de 
multis  rebus  etiamsi  multa  ignoramus,  prseparemus  etiam  nos  ad 
illam  ceternam  academiam,  in  qua  et  integram  plysicen  discemus» 
cum  ideam  mundi  nobis  architectus  ipvse  monstrabit," 

Melanchthonis  Initia  JDoctr.  Phys.  propfat. 

"We  have  been  conducted  by  the  Spirit  of  Pro- 
phecy, through  a  reahii  of  knowledge  hidden  from 
mortal  eye  ;  hut  one  which  is  ever  in  painful  remem- 
brance and  ardent  hope,  claimed  and  greeted  by  the 
restless  longings  of  the  human  mind,  created  in  the 
image  of  God  and  for  God,  as  its  true,  its  rightful 
possession.  "We  now^  hasten  to  explore  another,  yet 
a  related  sphere,  which,  though  lying  at  a  distance 
so  remote,  has  been  forced  to  disclose  itself  to  the 
bold  and  piercing  glance  of  man.  Ourselves  untra- 
velled  in  its  labyrinthine  paths,  we  shall  seek  the 
hand  of  safe  and  practised  guides,  who  will  point 
out  and  explain  to  us  the  wonders  of  a  region  which 
has  but  lately  been  reclaimed  from  the  depths  of 
space,  and  added  to  the  province  of  human  know- 
ledge.^ 

*  We  do  not  of  course  design  to  give  instruction  in  regard  to 
matters  of  astronomy  in  the  present  chapter.  Our  object  is 
merely  to  place  in  connection  before  the  reader,  in  a  general  way, 
sucli  facts  and  views  pertaining  to  this  domain  of  science,  as  may 
serve  to  establish  and  unfold  the  Biblical  theory  of  the  world,  or 
such  as  may  stand  in  alleged  contradiction  to  that  theory,  in 
order  thereby  to  gain  a  basis  for  the  discussion  of  the  succeeding 

(312) 


THE     SUN.  313 

§  1.    The  Sun, 

The  Su7iy  tlie  mighty  king  of  day,  first  attracts  our 
attention.  Two  all-controlling  agencies  constitute 
the  sceptre  of  his  dominion — gravity  and  light.  His 
volume  is  so  enormous  as  to  be  capable  of  furnishing 
material  for  the  composition  of  almost  one  million 
and  a  half  such  globes  as  ours.  Were  all  the  planets 
and  moons  of  the  solar  s^'stem  thrown  together  into 
one  mass,  the}^  would  not  constitute  a  body  of  more 
than  the  five-hundredth  part  the  volume  of  this  vast 
central  sphere.  The  proportion  is  somewhat  difierent 
when  gravity  is  taken  as  the  principle  of  comparison. 
The  sun,  with  little  over  one-fourth  the  density  of 
the  earth,  still  surpasses  it  in  weight  345,936  ^  times  ; 

chapter.  We  may,  however,  recommend  the  following;  treatises, 
as  sources  of  information  proper  in  regard  to  astronomical  science. 
The  works  of  .J.  H.  Madler  [popiddre  Astronomie,  4th  ed.,  Berlin, 
1849;  Kachtrdge  thereto,  Berlin,  1852;  Astronomisclie  Briefe, 
Mitau,  1846):  the  work  of  J.  Lament  [Astron.  unci  Erdmagnetis' 
mus,  Stuttg.,  1851):  of  John  Herschel  {Outlines  of  Astronomy, 
Lend.,  1840,  3d  ed.,  1850) :  of  Humboldt  {Kosmos) :  the  works  of 
G.  H.  von  Schubert  [Die  Urwelt  und  die  Fixsterne,  2d  ed.,  Dresd., 
1839 ;  Lehrhucli  der  Stenikunde,  3d  ed.,  Erlang.,  1847 ;  Katur- 
lelire,  Calw.,  1847 ;  Geschichte  der  Natur.,  vol.  I.,  3d  ed.,  also 
under  the  title.  Das  WeUgehdude,  die  Erde  und  die  Zeiten  des 
Menschen  auf  der  Erde,  Erlang.,  1852. 

'  It  is,  therefore,  "  certain  beyond  doubt,  that  no  creature  be- 
longing to  our  earth  is  possessed  of  strength  enough  to  move  its 
limbs  or  walk  upon  the  surface  of  the  sun,  as  upon  the  earth ; 
since  the  force  of  gravity  is  some  28^^  times  more  powerful  there 
than  upon  the  surface  of  our  globe.  The  greater  and  more  dense 
the  world  to  be  inhabited,  the  stronger  must  be  the  bodies  of  its 
inhabitants.  The  most  Herculean  frames  of  the  earth,  were  they 
transported   to  the  sun,  would  at  once  reveal  themselves  as  the 

27 


314  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

and  tlie  combined  weight  of  all  the  other  bodies 
belonging  to  the  system,  about  700  times.  This  vast 
excess  of  gravity  in  the  sun,  binds  all  the  lesser 
masses  of  its  vassals  so  irresistibly  to  itself,  within 
its  own  control,  that  were  they  all  to  appear  in  con- 
junction on  one  side  of  the  sun,  and  there  expend 
their  united  powers  of  attraction  upon  that  great 
sphere,  their  influence  would  scarcely  visibly  affect 
it.  But  still  their  nature  and  position  are  not  wholly 
of  a  passive  and  subordinate  character;  they  pos- 
sess likewise,  independent,  individual  life-powers; 
spontaneous  forces  never  to  be  suppressed,  in  addi- 
tion to  mere  receptive  capacities.  Were  it  not  that 
the  inalienable  and  unconquerable  power  of  the 
proper  and  independent  movement  of  the  planets 
away  from  the  sun,  balances  the  preponderating 
attractive  force  of  the  central  body ;  were  it  not  that 
the  centripetal  force  is  opposed  by  the  centrifugal ;  ^ 
mass  would  be  hurled  against  mass  with  appalling 
and  destructive  power.    These  terms,  borrowed  from 

most  helpless  and  pitiable  weaklings." —  MUdler,  Astron.  Briefe, 
p.  236. 

'  ["A  planet  moves  in  its  elliptical  orbit  with  a  velocity  varying 
every  instant,  in  consequence  of  two  forces :  the  one  tending  to 
the  centre  of  the  sun,  and  the  other  in  the  direction  of  a  tangent 
to  its  orbit,  arising  from  the  primitive  impulse  given  at  the  time 
it  was  launched  into  space.  Should  the  force  in  the  tangent  cease, 
the  planet  would  fall  to  the  sun  by  its  gravity.  "Were  the  sun  not 
to  attract  it,  the  planet  would  fly  off  in  the  tangent.  Thus,  when 
the  planet  is  at  the  point  of  its  orbit  furthest  from  the  sun,  his 
action  overcomes  the  planet's  velocity,  and  brings  it  towards  him 
with  such  an  accelerated  motion,  that  at  last  it  overcomes  the 
sun's  attraction,  and,  shooting  past  him,  gradually  decreases  in 
velocity  until  it  arrives  at  the  most  distant  point,  when  the  sun's 
attraction  again  prevails." — Tr.] 


THE    SUN.  315 

the  vocabulary  of  nieclianical  science,  are  scarcely 
adequate  to  note  the  proper  secret  nature  of  the  mys- 
terious reciprocal  action  which  here  takes  place, 
much  less  to  exhaust  its  whole  significance.  Here, 
too,  we  meet  with  a  mysterious  sphere  of  dynamic 
life-forces,  where  proud  science  is  brought  to  a  stand 
by  a  "Hitherto  shalt  thou  come,  but  no  farther." 
We  can  indeed  behold  the  manifestations  of  the 
secret  life-forces,  which  appear  in  the  material 
frame-work;  but  these  forces  themselves,  the  ani- 
mating soul,  we  cannot  fathom.  Though  Kepler, 
the  physiologist  of  the  heavens,  with  prophetic 
powers  of  vision,  has  permitted  us,  in  his  three  laws, 
to  catch  some  glimpses  of  the  secret  vital  relations 
of  our  solar  sj^stem ;  and  though  the  incomparable 
Sir  Isaac  Newton,io\\o\\uig\MihQ  footsteps  of  Kepler, 
cast  the  treasures  his  predecessor  had  dug  from  the 
mines  of  knowledge,  into  current  coin,  by  embody- 
in  2:  them  in  his  celebrated  laws  of  cfravitation,  and 
thus  rendered  them  tangible  and  fruitful  to  science ; 
what  does  it  all  amount  to,  but  merely'  to  open  to  the 
human  science  a  new  theatre  of  effort  and  inade- 
quate attainment?  —  how  little,  really,  with  all  this 
advance,  is  the  innate  thirst  of  the  human  mind 
after  knowledge  satisfied !  ^ 

Still  more  mysterious  and  equally  unfathomable  is 
the  other  sovereign  power  of  the  sun — its  radiant, 

'  Kepler's  Imos  are  as  follow  :  "  The  planets  revolve  about  the 
sun  in  ellipses  (mostly  varying  but  very  little  from  circles),  hav- 
ing the  sun  in  one  of  their  foci.  2.  If  a  line  be  drawn  from  the 
centre  of  the  sun  to  any  planet,  this  line,  as  carried  forward  by 
the  planet,  will  sweep  over  equal  areas  in  equal  portions  of  time. 
3-  The  squares  of  the  periodic  times  of  the  planets  are  as  the 
cubes  of  their  mean  distances  from  the  sun."     From  these  Newton 


316  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

ardent,  and  all-enlivening  light.  The  nature  of  light 
is  still  a  problem,  which,  just  as  all  the  secret  courses 
of  the  processes  of  life,  has  never  been  solved. 
Its  solution  is,  indeed,  perhaps  not  within  the  com- 
pass of  human  attainments.  The  system  of  emana- 
tions, which  formerly  obtained  in  connection  with, 
this  problem,  is  now  generally  abandoned  on  the 
part  of  science.  And,  doubtless,  the  theory  of  un- 
dulations will  also  have  to  give  way  before  that  later 
and  more  profound  theory,  according  to  which  light 
originates  from  the  co-incident  activity  of  cosmical 
contrasts,  induced  through  a  galvanic  excitement  of 
latent  elementary  light  or  light-ether.  ^'  "Were  not 
your  eye  adapted  to  the  sun,  how  could  you  behold 
the  sun?"  How  could  the  sun  light  up  the  earth, 
were  not  the  nature  of  the  earth  adapted  to  receive 
the  light — were  it  not  impressible  and  excitable  by 
light  ?  To  the  masculine  exciting  agent,  corresponds 
a  feminine  excitable  object;  to  the  imparting  agent, 
a  receiving  object;  the  former  remains  an  exciting 
and  imparting  agent,  only  so  long  and  so  far  as  it  is 
opposed  by  a  corresponding  object,  capable  of  being 
excited  and  of  receiving,  which  from  this  very  cir- 
cumstance must  partake  of  the  same  nature.  Thus 
much,  however,  is  satisfactorily  known;    that  the 

deduced  the  law  of  gravitation,  according  to  which  attraction  de- 
creases in  proportion  as  the  square  of  the  distance  increases.  For 
a  more  complete  understanding  of  the  laws  of  Kepler,  and  their 
relation  to  the  laws  of  life  in  general,  compare  Schubert,  Die  Ur- 
welt,  sec.  IV.,  but  particularly  his  Ahndungen  e.  allg.  GescTit.  d, 
Lebens,  in  the  second  section  of  the  volume  :  also  Hugi,  Grund- 
ztige  einer  allgem.  Katuransicld,  vol.  I.,  Solothurn,  1841,  p.  64 
seq.,  192  seq. 


THE     SUN.  317 

atmosphere  of  the  sun  is  the  source  of  light  to  the 
planets  of  our  system,  and  that  this  atmosphere  sur- 
rounds the  sun,  a  dark  body  in  itself,  to  the  height 
of  from  500  to  600  geographical  miles.  ^'  "We  inhabi- 
tants of  the  earth  behold  a  vast  expanse  of  some 
600,000  million  square  miles,  (the  extent  of  super- 
ficies the  sun  presents  to  us,)  contracted  to  a  small 
disk  of  one  foot  in  diameter,  and  though  its  concen- 
trated rays  strike  our  eyes  with  such  dazzling  bril- 
liancy, there  have  not  been  wanting  astronomers, 
who  have  maintained  that  were  this  light  equally  dis- 
tributed over  the  enormous  body  of  the  sun  itself,  its 
efiects  might  not  be  so  blinding  ^  there,  but  moderate 
and  beneficent."^ 

^  ["In  measuring,  photometrically,  the  light  of  the  three  diffe- 
rent structures  of  the  sun,  Sir  William  Ilerschel  found  that  the 
light  reflected  outwards  by  the  clouds  of  the  inferior  stratum, 
•was  equal  to  469  rays  out  of  1000,  or  less  than  one-half  of  the 
light  of  the  outer  stratum  ;  and  that  the  light  reflected  by  the 
opaque  body  of  the  sun  below  was  only  seven  rays  out  of  1000. 
Hence  he  concluded  that  the  outer  stratum  of  the  self-luminous 
or  phosphoric  clouds,  was  the  region  of  that  light  and  heat  which 
are  transmitted  to  the  remotest  part  of  the  system :  while  the 
inferior  stratum,  which  is  obviously  of  a  different  character  from 
the  other,  is  intended  to  protect  the  inhabitants  of  the  sun  from 
the  blaze  of  the  stupendous  furnace  which  encloses  them.  In  con- 
firmation of  this  view,  the  faint  illumination  —  the  seven  rays  out 
of  a  thousand  —  is  a  proof  that  the  light  of  the  outer  stratum,  and 
consequently  its  heat,  must  be  extremely  small  on  the  dark  body 
of  the  luminary  which  we  see  through  what  are  called  the  solar 
spots,  which  are  now  universally  admitted  to  be  openings  in  the 
luminous  stratum,  and  not  opaque  scoria}  floating  on  its  surface." 
More  Worlds  than  One,  Brewster,  p.  98.  No  mention  is  here  made 
of  the  true  outer  or  third  stratum  of  the  solar  investment. — Tr.] 

2  Schubert,  Urwelt,  p.  22. 

27* 


318  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  difference  between  the  sun 
and  the  planets  is  by  no  means  certainly  so  great  as 
it  is  ordinarily  taken  to  be.  The  solid  central  body 
of  the  sun  seems  to  be  of  a  planetary  nature,  and  at 
the  very  place  where  the  diiference  appears  to  be 
most  marked,  in  the  atmospheres  of  the  sun  and  the 
planets  respectively,  even  there  ''the  distinction  is  no 
greater  nor  more  pervading  than  that  existing  be- 
tween two  beings  of  the  same  species  and  internal 
constitution,  but  differing  in  sex,  one  being  mascu- 
line and  the  other  feminine.  For  the  atmosphere 
of  planets  also,  and,  still  more,  that  of  the  comets, 
partakes,  under  certain  circumstances,  of  the  attri- 
butes of  an  independently  self-luminous  substance, 
giving  out  light  without  the  intervention  of  any 
agitation  from  without.  Indeed,  the  qualit}^  which 
we  call  transparency  is,  in  a  certain  respect,  nothing 
more  than  an  attribute  of  a  substance  which  is  co- 
luminous  and  self-luminous  through  merely  negative 
excitement  from  without."'  "The  contrast,"  says 
another  student  of  nature,^  "  in  which  the  sun  and 
the  planets  stand  to  each  other,  as  bodies  that  give 
and  bodies  that  receive  light,  appears  not  to  be  a 
complete  and  absolute  one,  an}^  more  than  do  many 
other  contrasts  in  nature.  It  cannot  be  said  that  the 
planets  do  not  possess  any  proper  power  in  them- 
selves of  developing  light.  The  northern  light  of 
the  earth,  the  remarkable  circumstance  that  some- 
times when  our  skies  are  without  a  moon,  the  clouds 
become  luminous  through  some  influence  from  above, 

1  Schubert,  Urwelt,  p.  21. 

2  Perty,  AUgem.  Naiurgescli.  I.,  p.  222. 


THE     SUN.  310 

the  illumination  of  the  dark  side  of  Yenus,  the  total 
eclipse  of  the  moon  in  which  it  does  not  become 
altogether  invisible,  though  receiving  no  light  at  all 
from  the  sun,  and  perhaps,  also,  the  so  intense  light 
of  Jupiter  and  Yesta — all  these  indicate  this  remark- 
able fact.  Thus  it  appears,  therefore,  that  as  the  sun 
contains  a  dark  body,  something  of  a  planetary 
nature,  so,  also,  each  planet  possesses  something  of  a 
solar  nature  ;  but  as  the  solar  principle  predominates 
in  the  sun,  so  likewise  does  the  planetary  principle 
in  the  planets."  Indeed,  Hugi^  who  holds  gravity  to 
be  a  polar  relation  between  the  centre  and  circum- 
ference, a  tending  of  the  individual  members  to  the 
centre  of  the  whole ;  and  light  to  be  the  directly  op- 
posite working — a  stretching  of  the  grand  centre  of  the 
whole  upon  the  individual  members  of  the  periphery, 
—expresses  himself  to  this  effect,  in  his  above-men- 
tioned ingenious  original  work  (page  44) ;  that  very 
probably  the  gravity  of  the  planets  in  relation  to  the 
body  of  the  sun,  manifests  itself  in  the  form  of  light, 
so  that,  conversely,  the  effect  of  the  sun  in  produc- 
ing light  upon  the  planets,  appears  upon  the  sun  it- 
self, under  the  nature  of  gravity,  or  as  an  outward 
striving  towards  the  planets  by  which  it  is  encircled. 


[Some  additional  facts  and  views  in  regard  to  the  sun  may  not 
be  without  interest.  This  great  central  sphere,  as  well  as  the 
planets  which  are  dependent  upon  it,  is  possessed  of  an  axial  ro- 
tation. "  Its  period  of  rotation  is  25  days,  7  hours,  and  48 
minutes.  The  axis  upon  Avhich  it  revolves  is  very  nearly  perpen- 
dicular to  the  plane  of  the  earth's  orbit,  and  the  motion  of  rota- 
tion is  in  the  same  direction  as  the  motion  of  the  planets  ronnd 
the  sun :  that  is,  from  the  west  to  the  east."     The  remarkable 


320  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

phenomena  of  the  solar  spots  happily  furnish  us  with  the  means 
of  arriving  at  the  period  of  rotation  in  this  case,  which  otherwise 
would,  in  all  probability,  present  insuperable  difficulties  to  the 
astronomer.  The  spots  are  all  found  to  revolve  in  the  same  time 
— something  over  25  days.  "The  only  circumstance  of  regular-  ^ 
ity  which  can  be  said  to  attend  these  remarkable  phenomena  is 
their  position  upon  the  sun.  They  are  invariably  confined  to  two 
moderately  broad  zones  parallel  to  the  solar  equator,  separated 
from  it  by  a  space  several  degrees  in  breadth.  The  equator  itself, 
and  this  space  which  thus  separates  the  macular  zones,  are  abso- 
lutely divested  of  such  phenomena."  .  .  .  .  "  The  prevalence  of 
spots  on  the  sun's  disc  is  both  variable  and  irregular.  Sometimes 
the  disc  will  be  completely  divested  of  them,  and  will  continue  so- 
for  weeks  or  months ;  sometimes  they  will  be  spread  on  certain 
parts  of  it  in  great  profusion.  Sometimes  the  spots  will  be  small, 
but  numerous ;  sometimes  individual  spots  will  appear  of  vast 
extent;  sometimes  they  will  be  manifested  in  groups,  the  penum- 
brse  or  fringes  being  in  contact." 

"  The  duration  of  each  spot  is  also  subjected  to  great  and  irre- 
gular variation.  A  spot  has  appeared  and  vanished  in  less  than 
twenty-fonr  hours,  while  some  have  maintained  their  appearance 
and  position  for  nine  or  ten  weeks,  or  during  nearly  three  com- 
plete revolutions  of  the  sun  upon  its  axis.  ....  The  magnitude 
of  the  spots  and  the  velocities  with  which  the  matter  composing 
their  edges  and  fringes  moves,  as  they  increase  and  decrease,  are 
on  a  scale  proportionate  to  the  dimensions  of  the  orb  of  the  sun 
itself.  When  it  is  considered  that  a  space  upon  the  sun's  disc, 
the  apparent  breadth  of  which  is  only  a  minute,  actually  mea- 
sures 27,9G0  miles,  and  that  spots  have  been  frequently  observed, 
the  apparent  length  and  breadth  of  which  have  exceeded  2^,  the 
stupendous  magnitude  of  the  regions  they  occupy  may  be  easily 
conceived.  The  velocity  with  which  the  luminous  matter  at  the 
edges  of  the  spots  occasionally  moves,  during  the  gradual  increase 
or  decrease  of  the  spot,  has  been  in  some  cases  found  to  be  enor- 
mous. A  spot,  the  apparent  breadth  of  which  was  90^^,  and  into 
which  our  earth  might  have  dropped  without  grazing  its  edges, 
was  observed  by  Mayer  to  close  in  about  40  days.  Now,  the 
actual  linear  dimensions  of  such  a  spot  must  have  been  41,940 
miles,  and,  consequently,  the  average  daily  motion  of  the  matter 


THE    SUN.  321 

coniposinf;  its  edges  must  have  been  1050  miles,  a  velocity  equiva- 
lent to  44  miles  an  hour." 

These  spots  are  now  generally  supposed  to  be  excavations  in 
the  luminous  envelope  of  the  sun,  though  they  have  also  been 
supposed  to  be  vast  scoriae  or  masses  of  incombustible  matter 
floating  upon  the  surface  of  the  sun.  Sir  J.  Herscliel,  vrho  has 
devoted  much  attention  to  the  subject  of  solar  spots,  believes  the 
rupture  in  the  luminous  investment  of  the  sun,  giving  rise  to  the 
phenomena  of  solar  spots,  to  result  from  the  action  of  agencies 
somewhat  like  the  trade-winds  and  anti-trades,  hurricanes,  torna- 
does, water-spouts,  and  other  violent  atmospheric  disturbances 
upon  our  earth,  induced  by  somewhat  similar  conditions  of  axial 
rotation,  equatorial  accumulation  of  atmosphere,  unequal  tem- 
perature, and  the  like,  in  connection  with  the  sun  itself.  These 
agencies  must,  of  course,  be  proportionate  in  extent  and  power  to 
the  surpassing  size  of  the  sun.  It  will  be  observed  that  the 
region  of  the  spots  in  the  sun  corresponds  to  that  of  greatest  at- 
mospheric disturbance  upon  our  globe.  The  possibility  of  such  a 
production  of  solar  spots  may  perhaps  be  better  understood  after 
considering  the  sun's  atmosphere  as  a  whole. 

We  may  be  permitted,  in  this  connection,  to  make  some  extracts 
from  a  very  interesting  paper  on  the  physical  consitution  of  the 
sun,  by  Arago,  part  of  which  may  be  found  in  the  Annual  of  Scieu- 
iijic  Discovery,  1853,  p.  135  seqq. 

After  briefly  reviewing  the  phenomena  of  the  solar  spots,  and 
the  peculiar  radiance,  less  luminous  than  the  rest  of  the  orb,  with 
which  they  are  surrounded,  —  the  penumbra,  M.  Arago  says: 
"This  penumbra,  first  noticed  by  Galileo,  and  carefully  observed 
"by  his  astronomical  successors  in  all  the  changes  which  it  under- 
goes, has  led  to  a  supposition  concerning  the  physical  constitu- 
tion of  the  sun,  which  at  first  must  appear  altogether  astonishing. 
According  to  this  view,  the  orb  would  be  regarded  as  a  dark  body, 
surrounded  at  a  certain  distance  by  an  atmosphere,  which  might 
be  compared  to  that  enveloping  the  earth,  when  composed  of  a 
continuous  bed  of  opaque  and  reflecting  clouds.  To  this  first  at- 
mosphere would  succeed  a  second,  luminous  in  itself,  and  which 
has  been  called  iha  photosphere.  This  photosphere,  more  or  less 
removed  from  the  interior  cloudy  atmosphere,  would  determine, 
by  its  circumference,  the  visible  limits  of  the  orb.     According  to 


322  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

this  hypothesis,  spots  upon  the  sun  would  appear  as  often  as  there 
were  found  in  the  concentric  atmospheres,  corresponding  vacant 
portions,  which  would  permit  us  to  see  exposed  the  dark  central 
body.  Those  who  have  studied  with  powerful  instruments,  pro- 
fessional astronomers,  and  competent  judges,  acknowledge  that 
this  hypothesis  concerning  the  physical  constitution  of  the  sun, 
supplies  a  very  satisfactory  account  of  the  facts.  Nevertheless, 
it  is  not  generally  adopted  ;  recent  authorities  describe  the  spots 
as  scoriae  floating  on  the  liquid  surface  of  the  orb,  and  issuing 
from  solar  volcanoes,  of  which  terrestrial  volcanoes  are  but  a 
feeble  type. 

"It  was  desirable,  then,  to  determine,  by  direct  observation, 
the  nature  of  the  incandescent  matter  of  the  sun ;  but  when  we 
consider  that  a  distance  of  95,000,000  of  miles  separates  us  from 
this  orb,  and  that  the  only  means  of  communication  with  its  visi- 
ble surface,  are  luminous  rays  issuing  therefrom,  even  to  propose 
this  problem  seems  an  act  of  unjustifiable  temerity.  The  recent 
progress  in  the  science  of  optics,  has,  however,  furnished  the 
means  for  completely  solving  this  problem. 

"  None  are  now  ignorant  that  natural  philosophers  have  suc- 
ceeded in  distinguishing  two  kinds  of  light,  viz.,  natural  and 
polarized.  A  ray  of  the  former  of  these  lights  exhibits,  on  all 
points  of  its  surface,  the  same  properties ;  whilst,  with  regard  to 
polarized  light,  the  properties  exhibited  on  the  different  sides  of 

its  rays  are  different Before  going  further,  let  us  remark, 

that  there  is  something  wonderful  in  the  experiments  which  have 
led  philosophers  legitimately  to  talk  of  the  different  sides  of  a  ray 
of  light.  The  word  *  wonderful,'  which  I  have  just  used,  will 
certainly  appear  natural  to  those  who  are  aware  that  millions  and 
millions  of  these  rays  can  simultaneously  pass  through  the  eye 
of  a  needle,  without  interfering  one  with  the  other.  Polarized 
light  has  enabled  astronomers  to  augment  the  means  of  investi- 
gation by  the  aid  of  some  curious  instruments,  among  others,  the 
polarizing  telescope,  which  .  .  .  furnishes  a  very  simple  means 
of  distinguishing  natural  from  polarized  light. 

"  It  has  long  been  believed,  that  light  emanating  from  incan- 
descent bodies,  reaches  the  eye  in  the  state  of  natural  light,  when 
it  has  not  been  partially  reflected  or  strongly  refracted,  in  its  pas- 
sage.    The  exactitude  of  this  proposition  failed,  however,  in  cer- 


THE     SUN.  6-Z6 

tain  points.  A  member  of  the  Academy  has  discovered  that  li^lit 
emanating  under  a  sufficiently  small  angle,  from  the  surface  of  a 
solid  or  liquid  incandescent  body,  even  when  polished,  presents 
evident  marks  of  polarization  ;  so  that  in  passing  through  the 
polarizing  telescope  or  polariscope,  it  is  decomposed  into  two 
colored  pencils.  The  light  emanating  from  an  inflamed  gaseous 
substance,  such  as  is  used  in  street  illumination,  on  the  contrary, 
is  always  in  its  natural  state,  whatever  may  have  been  the  angle 
of  its  emission.  The  means  used  to  decide  whether  the  sub- 
stance which  renders  the  sun  visible  is  solid,  liquid,  or  gaseous, 
will  be  nothing  more  than  a  very  simple  application  of  the  fore- 
going observations,  in  spite  of  the  difficulties  which  seem  to  arise 
from  the  immense  distance  of  the  orb. 

"Observations   made   any  day   of  the   year,  looking 

directly  at  the  sun,  with  the  aid  of  powerfully  polarizing  tele- 
scopes, exhibit  no  trace  of  polarization.  The  inflamed  substance, 
then,  which  defines  the  circumference  of  the  sun,  is  gaseous. 
We  can  generalize  this  conclusion,  since,  through  the  agency 
of  rotation,  the  different  points  of  the  surface  of  the  sun  come  in 
succession  to  form  the  circumference.  This  experiment  removes 
out  of  the  domain  of  simple  hypothesis,  the  theory  we  have  pre- 
viously indicated  concerning  the  constitution  of  the  solar  photo- 
sphere. 

"The  constitution  of  the  sun,  as  I  have  just  established 

it,  may  equally  well  serve  to  explain  how,  on  the  surface  of  the 
orb,  there  exist  some  spots  not  black  but  luminous.  These  have 
been  called  faculae,  others  of  much  smaller  dimensions  and  gene- 
rally round,  have  been  called  lucules By  experiment  it 

was  found  that  a  gaseous  incandescent  surface  of  a  determined 
extent  is  more  luminous  when  seen  obliquely,  than  under  perpen- 
dicular incidence.  Consequently,  if,  like  our  atmosphere,  when 
dappled  with  clouds,  the  solar  surface  presents  undulations,  the 
parts  of  these  undulations  which  are  presented  perpendicularly 
to  the  observer,  must  appear  comparatively  dim,  and  the  inclined 
portion  must  appear  more  brilliant;  and  hence,  every  conic  cavity 
must  appear  a  lucule.  It  is  no  longer  necessary,  in  accounting 
for  these  appearances,  to  suppose  that  there  exist  on  the  sun  rail- 
lions  of  fires  more  incandescent  than  the  rest  of  the  disc,  or 
millions  of  points  distinguishing  themselves  from  the  neighboring 
regions  by  a  greater  accumulation  of  luminous  matter. 


324  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

"  After  havino;  proved  that  that  the  sun  is  composed  of  a  dark 
central  body,  of  a  cloudy-reflecting  atmosphere,  and  of  a  photo- 
sphere, we  should  naturally  ask  if  there  is  nothing  besides.  If 
the  photosphere  terminates  abruptly  and  without  being  surrounded 
by  a  gaseous  atmosphere,  less  luminous  in  itself,  or  feebly  refract- 
ing ?  Generally,  this  third  atmosphere  would  disappear  in  the 
ocean  of  light  with  which  the  sun  appears  always  surrounded, 
and  which  proceeds  from  the  reflection  of  its  own  rays  upon  the 
particles  of  which  the  terrestrial  atmosphere  is  composed."  M. 
Arago  then  proceeds  to  mention  observations  made  in  connection 
with  eclipses  of  the  moon,  in  regard  to  the  existence  of  a  third 
and  outer  stratum  of  the  solar  investment,  and  arrives  at  the  con- 
clusion that  the  actual  presence  of  such  a  stratum  is  scarcely  any 
more  a  matter  of  doubt.  Sir  J.  Ilerschel,  years  previously,  main- 
tained the  existence  of  a  gaseous  atmosphere  of  vast  height  above 
the  second  or  luminous  stratum  of  the  solar  investment. — As  to 
the  physical  cause  of  the  sun's  heat,  it  may  be  remarked,  how- 
ever, that  philosophers  widely  diflfer ;  as  there  are  great  diffi- 
culties to  the  hypothesis  of  combustion,  involving  such  extensive 
chemical  change,  many  incline  to  the  view  that  it  is  produced  by 
electric  or  electro-magnetic  action.  —  Tr.] 

§  2.   The  Pla7iets  and  Satellites. 

Let  us  now  turn  our  attention  from  the  king  of 
day  to  the  attendants  of  his  majesty.  Among  the 
Planets,  so  far  as  they  are  known  to  us,  "there 
obtains  this  common  and  universal  character :  that 
they,  being  in  themselves  more  or  less  dark  bodies, 
stand  in  need  of  the  vivifying  light  of  the  sun  ;  that 
they  move  around  their  common  central  sphere,  in 
orbits  which  mostly  deviate  but  little  from  the  form 
of  a  circle,  and  lie  in  a  plane  which  very  nearlj^  co- 
incides with  the  plane  of  the  sun's  equator;"  that 
they  all  turn  on  their  axes,  and  that  through  the 
inclined  position  of  these  axes  to  the  planes  of  the 
orbits  of  the  several   phxnets,  there   is   produced  a 


THE     PLANETS    AND     SATELLITES.        325 

chaiio^e  of  seasons  and  a  lenoftlienins^  and  sliortenins; 
of  day  and  night ;  and  that,  finally,  "  they  are  all 
composed  of  matter  which  appears  not  to  vary  very 
substantially  from  the  material  of  which  our  earth 
is  formed  (ranging  from  the  solidity  of  metal  to  the 
lightness  of  water)".  But  the  variety  of  their  indi- 
vidual conditions  is  by  no  means  limited  by  this 
general  similarity.  "  In  spite  of  the  unity  of  tlieir 
plan,  and  an  obvious  striving  towards  the  same 
grand  idea,  uniformity  is  still  avoided.  In  each  of 
these  revolving  globes,  though  they  are  but  partially 
known  to  us,  we  meet  with  some  peculiarities  which 
belong  respectively  to  the  particular  individual  only. 
ISTature  has  nowhere  repeated  herself  In  every  hea- 
venly body,  both  great  and  small,  we  behold  an  in- 
dividual independent  in  itself — between  them  all, 
however,  there  exists  at  the  same  time,  a  harmony 
that  is  simple,  complete,  and  ever-abiding."^ 

The  similarity  as  to  the  constitution  and  arrange- 
ments of  nature,  is  most  marked  in  Mercury,  Venus, 
the  Earth,  and  Mars,  the  four  planets  nearest  the 
sun ;  and  the  dissimilarity  increases  proportionally 
with  the  distance. 

Mercury  is  a  body  very  similar  to  our  earth,  with 
a  mountainous  surface,  and  surrounded  by  an  atmo- 
sphere. The  length  of  its  day  is  much  the  same  as 
that  of  ours.  Its  year,  however,  contains  but  87 
days,  and  is  divided  into  seasons  of  very  unequal 
length.  Its  diameter  is  but  some  3000  miles,  on 
which  account  the  power  of  gravity  upon  its  surface, 
in  spite  of  a  somewhat  greater  density  (its  proportion 


28 


1  Miidler,  Astr.  JBriefe,  p.  129. 


326  AST  11  GNOMICAL    FACTS. 

to  the  earth  being  in  this  respect  as  6  to  5),  is  very 
materially  less  than  with  us.  Our  pound  there 
weighs  but  7|-  ounces.  From  Mercury  the  sun  ap- 
pears, at  a  distance  of  but  37,000,000  miles,  as  a  disk 
two  feet  seven  inches  in  diameter ;  and  the  phmet, 
consequently,  receives  seven  times  the  amount  of 
light  and  heat  that  our  earth  does. 

Vexus,  that  brilliant  star  which  was  called  by 
Homer  of  old,  the  most  beautiful  one  in  all  the  hea- 
vens, does  not  deviate  very  much  from  the  earth,  in 
respect  to  size,  density,  and  power  of  gravitation. 
Its  day's  length  is  nearly  the  same  as  that  of  ours  ; 
its  year,  however,  about  one-third  shorter  than  ours. 
The  self-illumination  of  its  dark  side  is  perhaps  a 
manifestation  analogous  to  our  northern  light,  though 
it  is  far  more  intense.  The  planet  contains  moun- 
tains of  considerable  size,  and  is  surrounded  by  a 
very  pure  and  clear  atmosphere.^ 

^  [From  the  careful  observations  of  Scbroter,  as  well  as  those  of 
Beer  and  Madler,  in  regard  to  the  rotation  of  Venus,  it  may  now 
be  considered  as  fully  settled  that  this  planet  turns  upon  its  axis 
in  a  period  of  about  23  hours  15  minutes.  De  Vico  still  more  lately 
has  arrived  at  results  altogether  in  harmony  with  those  of  Beer  and 
Miidler.  Scbroter  conjectures  from  indications  he  has  observed, 
that  the  southern  hemisphere  of  this  planet  is  more  mountainous 
than  the  northern.  The  direction  of  its  axis  of  rotation  has  not 
been  satisfactorily  determined.  "If,  as  it  is  generally  supposed, 
it  be  inclined  to  the  plane  of  the  planet's  orbit  at  an  angel  of  75°, 
the  sun  must  at  some  time  be  vertical  to  all  points  not  within  15° 
of  the  poles,  and  as  the  utmost  limit  at  which  the  sun  is  vertical 
marks  the  tropics,  the  latter  must  be  within  15°  of  the  poles  of 
the  planet,  or  75°  on  each  side  of  the  equator,  and  so  include  150° 
of  its  surface.  By  this  arrangement  the  sun  is  vertical  twice  a 
year  to  all  places  on  the  planet  Venus,  except  those  situated  within 
15°  of  each  pole,  producing  a  most  remarkable  vicissitude  of  sea- 


THE    PLANETS    AND     SATELLITES.        327 

The  distairce  of  our  Earth  from  the  sun,  amounts 
to  ahout  95,000,000  miles.  Its  satellite,  the  Moon,'' 
50  times  less  in  size,  and  80  times  less  in  weight,  is 
distant  from  it  240,000  miles.  In  spite  of  the  inti- 
mate relation  existing  between  the  moon  and  the 
earth,  their  mutual  physical  conditions  and  arrange- 
ments are  v^erj  different  and  unlike.  In  this  con- 
nection may  be  mentioned  especially,  the  complete 
absence  of  water  and  of  any  atmosphere  in  the  moon, 
the  highly  peculiar  volcanic  and  kettle-shaped  exca- 
vations of  the  surface,  the  coincidence  of  its  axial 
rotation  with  its  revolution  round  the  earth,  &c. 

The  most  remarkable  agreement  with  the  physical 
constitution  and  relations  of  the  earth,  may  be  ob- 
served in  the  next  and  smaller  planet,  Mars.^     Its 

suns.  During  one-half  of  Venus'  year  —  that  is,  sixteen  -weeks — ■ 
the  sun  continues  at  one  pole  without  setting,  while  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  other  pole  are  involved  in  darkness.  In  this  respect 
A^enus  resembles  our  earth,  for  each  pole  has  a  night  of  half  a 
year.  But  unlike  the  earth,  the  inhabitants  at  Venus'  equator 
have  two  winters  and  two  summers  in  every  year." — Familiar 
Astronomy,  Bouvier,  p.  353. — Tr.] 

'  [Mars  revolves  on  its  axis  in  24  hours,  37  minutes  and  10 
seconds,  the  direction  of  the  axis  being  at  an  inclination  of  28° 
27^  to  the  plane  of  the  planet's  orbit.  Beer  and  Madler,  who 
have  devoted  much  time  to  observations  in  connection  with  this 
planet,  suppose,  in  accordance  with  the  author's  remarks,  that  the 
whiteness  observed  at  the  poles  of  this  planet  is  occasioned  by 
snow  and  ice.  To  the  same  observers,  changes  in  appearance  were 
manifest  in  other  parts  of  the  planet,  "but  through  those  changes 
the  permanent  features  of  the  planet  were  always  discerned  ;  just 
as  the  seas  and  continents  of  the  earth  may  be  imagined  to  be 
distinguishable  through  the  occasional  openings  in  the  clouds  of 
our  atmosphere,  by  a  telescopic  observer  in  Mars." — Tr.J 

a  [For  matter  connected  with  letters,  see  additions  to  the  sections. — Tr.] 


328  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

red  color  would  lead  us  to  conclude  at  least  that  its 
atmosphere  is  quite  as  dense  as  that  of  our  earth. 
Both  dark  and  light  spots,  which  are  not  subject  to 
change,  may  be  observed  upon  its  surface.  "  The 
first  appear  to  be  seas,  and  it  may  be  worthy  of  re- 
mark that,  just  as  it  is  upon  the  earth,  the  greater 
mass  of  the  waters  is  collected  upon  the  southern 
hemisphere ;  while  the  northern  contains  a  prepon- 
derance of  dry  land."  Besides,  the  neighborhood  of 
its  two  poles  is  rendered  conspicuous  by  a  specially 
brilliant  white  color.  As  these  clear  white  zones 
yearly  increase  and  decrease,  in  a  regularly  recurring 
manner,  according  as  winter  or  summer  is  present 
at  the  pole  concerned,  we  are  left  fairly  to  conclude 
that  they  are  composed  of  snow  and  ice.  The  day's 
length  in  Mars  is  much  the  same  as  ours ;  but  on 
account  of  its  greater  distance  from  the  sun,  its  time 
of  revolution  round  that  body  is  almost  twice  as  long 
as  that  of  the  earth ;  its  light  and  heat  are  of  course 
much  less  intense  than  with  us.  Though  not  vary- 
ing much  in  density  from  the  earth,  gravitation  is  but 
one-half  as  strong  upon  its  surface.  Mars,  just  as  the 
two  planets  nearest  the  sun,  has  no  satellite. 

With  respect  to  the  Asteroids,  whose  number  has 
been  so  rapidly  ^  swelled  of  late  years,  that  it  now 
amounts  to  42,  observation  has  gathered  little  of  im- 
portance. The  reason  of  this  ill  success  is  their  dis- 
tance and  their  extreme  smallness  —  the  diameter  of 
Vesta,  for  instance,  is  thought  to  be  about  260  miles 
—  and  observation  has  been  forced  to  confine  itself 
pretty  much  to  the  investigation  of  their  wonderfully 
intricate,  deviating,  and  extremely  elliptical  orbits. 


THE  PLANETS  AND  SATELLITES.    329 

Jupiter  is  the  largest  of  all  the  planetsJ  Its  bulk 
is  1414  times  that  of  the  earth,  and  almost  the  one- 
thousaiKlth  part  that  of  the  sun.  Its  distance  from 
the  sun  is  about  495,500,000  miles;  and,  seen  from 
it,  the  sun  presents  a  disc  of  but  2J  inches  in  dia- 
meter. The  degree  of  light  received  by  this  planet 
is  27  times  less  than  that  received  by  the  earth.  Its 
density  is  equal  to  that  of  the  sun  —  4  times  less 
than  that  of  the  earth.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
power  of  gravitation  is  much  greater  upon  its  surface 
than  with  us,  a  pound  there  weighing  2|-  pounds. 
From  all  this  it  appears  how  very  much  its  physical 
constitntion  and  relations  differ  from  those  which 
obtain  upon  our  globe.  Its  light  is  at  least  twice  as 
intense  as  it  would   be  upon  the  earth,  w^ere  the 

'  [The  human  mind  is  filled  with  wonder  in  contemplating  the 
grand  scale  on  which  magnitude,  motion  and  distance  are  displayed 
even  in  our  own  planetary  heavens.  Jupiter  rotates  upon  his  axis 
in  9  hours  and  56  minutes,  producing  an  astonishing  rate  of  mo- 
tion at  his  equatorial  surface,  when  we  remember  that  over  1400 
such  globes  as  the  one  we  inhabit  would  be  required  to  make  a 
mass  the  size  of  this  huge  planet.  But  still  more  astonishing  is 
his  prodigious  orbital  motion  as  he  sweeps  round  the  sun  at  such 
an  immense  distance.  He  moves  at  a  speed  sixty  times  greater 
than  that  of  a  cannon-ball,  or  700,000  miles  per  day,  30,000  per 
hour,  and  500  per  minute.  Sir  William  Ilerschel  considers  it 
probable,  from  his  observations,  that  an  analogy  to  the  axial  rota- 
tion of  our  moon  in  relation  to  the  planet  it  accompanies  is  to  be 
found  in  the  adjustment  of  the  Jovian  moons  —  that  they  rotate 
once  upon  their  axes  in  the  time  of  their  respective  revolutions 
about  the  planet,  thus  ever  presenting  the  same  side  to  that  body. 
There  are  indications  that  this  is  a  general  law  in  regard  to  the 
satellites  of  the  solar  system. — Tr.] 

28* 


330  ASTRONOMICAL     FACTS. 

earth  equally  remote  from  the  sun.  It  is  surrouuded 
by  a  very  dense  and  high  vapor  or  atmosphere. 
Parallel  with  the  direction  of  its  equator,  broad 
stripes  may  be  observed  extending  across  its  disc. 
These  have  been  regarded  as  cloud-formations ;  but 
they  must  differ  very  much  from  corresponding  ap- 
pearances in  our  atmosphere,  since  that  great  girdle 
of  clouds  which  passes  across  the  disc  of  that  planet 
near  its  equator,  has  experienced  no  material  change 
in  form  and  extent  for  the  last  200  years,  though  the 
other  stripes  have  suifered  various  modifications  and 
divisions.  On  account  of  the  diminished  density  of 
this  planet,  which  at  its  surface  is  equal  to  but  one- 
half  that  of  our  water,  sedimentary  deposits,  seas,  and 
such  like,  must,  if  they  exist  there  at  all,  be  of  a 
wholly  different  and  peculiar  constitution.  Jupiter 
hsisfou?^  satellites. 

The  most  interesting  system,  and  the  one  most 
planetary  in  its  character,  is  presented  by  Saturn, 
with  its  rotating  ring^  and  its  eight  satellites.  Its 
mean  distance  from  the  sun  is  about  906,000,000 
miles,  its  year's  length  28J  of  our  years,  the  length 
of  its  day  lOJ  hours.  It  surpasses  the  earth  in  size 
about  770  times,  and  its  mean  density  is  eight  times 
less  than  that  of  the  earth.  Its  outer  crust,  there- 
fore, does  not  probably  possess  a  specific  gravity 
quite  equal  to  that  of  cork- wood.  The  light  this 
planet  receives  from  the  sun  would  be,  according  to 
the  usual  calculation,  90  times  less  than  that  of  the 
earth ;  but  it  is,  in  reality,  only  some  20  times  less, 
owing  to  a  superior  capacity  in  this  body  for  receiv- 
ing light.      These  circumstances   show,    indeed,    a 


THE    PLANETS    AND     SATELLITES.        331 

striking  diiFerence  between  the  phj-sical  economy  of 
Saturn  and  that  of  the  earth ;  but  it  becomes  still 
more  remarkable  when  we  examine  that  strange  and 
mysterious  ring,  which  encircles  and  revolves  around 
the  equator  of  the  planet,  at  a  distance  of  about 
19,000  miles.  The  edge  of  this  arching  ring,  with  a 
thickness  of  not  much  over  135  miles,  is  turned  to- 
wards the  planet ;  the  ring  is  about  29,000  miles 
broad,  and  extends  away  from  the  sphere  lying  in 
its  plane,  and  wdiich  it  encircles,  like  a  great  disc 
with  a  piece  taken  out  of  its  centre.  The  ring  is 
besides  not  a  simple  one,  but  "consists  of  several 
concentric  rings,  of  unequal  breadth,  completely  de- 
tached from  each  other  by  intervening  void  spaces." 
Uranus  is  distant  from  the  sun  about  1822  mil- 
lions of  miles.  It  revolves  round  that  body  in  S-l 
years ;  the  time  of  its  rotation  on  its  axis  is  still  un- 
known. The  light  of  the  sun,  which  reaches  our 
earth  in  8'  l'\  does  not  reach  this  planet  under  2  hrs. 
35'  42^'.  From  it  the  sun  presents  a  disc  of  but  | 
of  an  inch  in  diameter.  Its  bulk  is  about  82  times 
that  of  the  earth  ;  its  specific  weight  6  times  less  than 
that  of  our  globe.  It  is  surrounded  by  a  very  dense 
atmosphere,  which  perhaps  possesses  sources  of  light 
and  heat  in  itself,  since  the  brilliancy  of  this  planet 
is  at  least  four  times  what  it  should  be  accordins:  to 
calculation.  Its  axis  is  so  much  inclined  towards  its 
orbit  that  the  two  fall  almost  in  the  same  plane ;  the 
length  of  its  daj^  and  night  is  consequently  almost 
wholly  independent  of  the  rotation  of  the  planet 
itself  It  has  at  its  poles,  in  turn,  both  daylight  and 
summer  for  a  period  of  42  terrestrial  years ;  these 


332  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

are  then  followed  by  a  wintry  night  of  equal  length. 
Six  satellites  have  been  discovered  holding  their 
courses  around  this  planet. 

Neptune,  the  most  distant  of  know^n  planets,  in 
whose  discovery  mathematical  analysis  has  w^on  its 
highest  and  most  brilliant  triumph,  describes  its 
orbit  around  the  sun  in  164  years,  and  is  distant 
from  that  body  about  3000  millions  of  miles.  Its 
size  is  very  nearly  the  same  as  that  of  Uranus.  The 
rays  of  the  sun  are,  when  they  reach  that  planet, 
1300  times  less  intense  than  when  they  strike  on 
earth.  Two  satellites  have  been  discovered  in  con- 
nection with  Neptune. 

How  diverse  and  unaccustomed  may  not  the  con- 
stitntion  of  nature  be  at  such  a  distance ! 

That  there  may  still  be  plan.ets  unknown  to  us, 
existing  without  the  orbit  of  Neptune,  but  neverthe- 
less controlled  by  our  sun,  cannot,  particularly  since 
the  discovery  of  Neptune,  be  reasonably  contested. 
A  planet,  though  a  hundred  times  more  distant  than 
Uranus,  w^ould  at  least  have  no  occasion  to  appre- 
hend disturbance  from  the  nearest  of  the  fixed  stars  : 
( — the  surpassing  distance  of  these  latter  bodies  will 
hereafter  claim  our  closer  attention).  If  we  apply 
the  analogy  of  increasing  distance  wdiich  obtains 
all  the  way  from  the  sun  to  Neptune,  to  merely  the 
most  extreme  limits  of  the  knoivn  solar  system  (the 
aphelion  of  the  comet  of  1680),  there  ^\\\\  still  be 
room  for  four  undiscovered  planets  beyond  the  orbit 
of  Neptune,  the  most  distant  of  which  must  be  620 
times  the  distance  of  the  earth  from  the  sun  (58,500 


THE  PLANETS  AND  SATELLITES.    666 

millions  of  miles),  and  require  15  tliousand  years  to 
complete  one  revolution. 

^  ["  The  entire  surface  of  the  visible  hemisphere  of  the  moon  is 
thickly  covered  with  mountainous  masses  and  ranges  of  various 
forms,  magnitudes  and  heights,  in  which,  however,  the  prevalence 

of  a  circular  or  crater-like  form  is  conspicuous Uniform 

patches,  of  greater  or  less  extent,  each  having  an  uniform  gray- 
tint  more  or  less  marked,  formerly  supposed  to  be  large  collec- 
tions of  water,  have  now  been  proven  to  be  regions  diversified  like 
the  rest  of  the  lunar  surface,  by  inequalities  and  undulations  of 
permanent  forms.  They  differ  from  the  other  regions  only  in  the 
magnitude  of  the  mountain  masses  which  prevail  upon  them.  .  . 
The  more  intensely  white  parts  are  mountains  of  various  magni- 
tude and  form,  whose  height,  relatively  to  the  moon's  magnitude, 
greatly  exceeds  that  of  the  most  stupendous  terrestrial  eminences; 
and  there  are  many  characterized  by  an  abruptness  and  steep- 
ness which  sometimes  assume  the  position  of  a  vast  vertical  wall 
altogether  without  example  upon  the  earth.  .  .  .  Circular  ranges 
of  mountains,  which,  were  it  not  for  their  vast  magnitude,  might  be 
inferred  from  their  form  to  have  been  volcanic  craters,  are  by  fiir 
the  most  prevalent  arrangement.  These  have  been  denominated, 
according  to  their  magnitudes,  hulwarh  plains,  ring  mountains, 
craters,  and  holes.  Tyclio,  the  most  remarkable  of  the  ring  moun- 
tains, is  distinguishable  without  a  telescope  when  the  lunar  disc 
is  full.  .  .  .  The  area  which  it  encloses,  and  which  is  very  nearly 
circular,  is  47  miles  in  diameter,  and  the  inside  of  the  enclosing 
ridges  has  the  steepness  of  a  wall.  Its  height  above  the  level  of 
the  enclosed  plain  is  16,000,  and  above  that  of  the  external  region, 
12,000  feet.  There  is  a  central  mount,  height  4700  feet,  besides 
a  few  lesser  hills  within  the  enclosure.  Craters  and  lioles  are  the 
smallest  formations  of  the  circular  class.  Craters  enclose  a  visible 
area,  containing,  generally,  a  central  mound  or  peak,  exhibiting, 
in  a  striking  manner,  the  volcanic  character.  Holes  include  no 
visible  area,  but  may  possibly  be  craters  on  a  scale  too  small  to  be 
distinguished  by  the  telescope.  Formations  of  this  class  are  in- 
numerable on  every  part  of  the  visible  surface  of  the  moon.  .  . 
Among  the  most  remarkable  phenomena  presented  to  lunar  ob- 
servers, are  the  systems  of  streaks   of  light  and  shade,  which 


334  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

radiate  from  the  borders  of  some  of  the  largest  ring  moiinfains, 
spreading  to  distances  of  several  hundred  miles  around  them.  .  .  . 
Herschel,  the  elder,  suggested  for  their  explanation  streams  of 
lava ;  Cassini  imagined  they  might  be  clouds ;  and  others  even 
suggested  the  possibility  of  their  being  roads  I  Madler  imagines 
that  these  ring  mountains  may  have  been  among  the  first  seleno- 
logical  formations  ;  and,  consequently,  the  points  to  which  all  the 
gases  evolved  in  the  formation  of  our  satellite  would  have  been 
attracted.  These  emanations  produced  effects  such  as  vitrifica- 
tion and  osydation,  which  modified  the  reflective  powers  of  the 
surface.'* — Handbook  of  Astronomy,  Lardner,  p.  208,  209.  "  Dr. 
Scoresby,  in  an  account  he  has  given  of  some  recent  observations 
made  with  the  Earl  of  Rosse's  telescope,  says :  With  respect  to 
the  moon,  every  object  on  its  surface  of  one  hundred  feet  was 
now  distinctly  to  be  seen,  and  he  had  no  doubt,  that,  under  favor- 
able circumstances,  it  would  be  so  with  objects  sixty  feet  in  height. 
On  its  surfjice  were  craters  of  extinct  volcanoes,  rocks,  and  masses 
of  stones  almost  innumerable.  He  had  no  doubt  that,  if  a  build- 
ing, such  as  he  was  then  in,  were  upon  the  surface  of  the  moon,  it 
would  be  rendered  visible  by  these  instruments.  But  there  were 
no  signs  of  inhabitants  such  as  ours,  no  vestige  of  architectural 
remains,  to  show  that  the  moon  is,  or  ever  was,  inhabited  by  a 
race  of  mortals  similar  to  ourselves.  It  presented  no  appearance 
which  could  lead  to  the  supposition  that  it  contained  anything 
like  the  green  fields  and  lovely  verdure  of  this  beautiful  world  of 
ours.  There  was  no  water  visible,  not  a  sea,  or  river,  or  even  the 
measure  of  the  reservoir  for  supplying  town  or  factory;  all  seemed 
desolate.''  — Tr.] 

'  [Well  may  the  author  speak  of  the  rapid  increase  of  the  number 
of  the  asteroids  I  When  he  penned  those  lines,  some  five  years 
ago,  they  numbered  18,  so  far  as  they  were  known  ;  now  they 
number  42,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  unwearied 
eye  of  the  astronomer  may  not  succeed  in  descrying  many  similar 
small  masses,  moving  across  the  heavens  in  the  general  path  of 
planetary  motion.  Early  in  the  present  century,  when  only  three 
of  these  bodies  had  been  discovered,  the  sagacious  Dr.  Olbers 
ventured  the  conjecture  that  they  all  had  a  common  origin  ;  being, 
as  he  supposed,  the  fragments  of  a  large  planet  revolving  between 
Mars  and  Jupiter,  which  was  rent  asunder  by  some  tremendous 


THE  PLANETS  AND  SATELLITES.   335 

catastrophe  in  the  unknown  past.  Many  astronomers  have  sub- 
sequently sympathized  with  this  view.  Le  Verrier  supposes  the 
sum  of  all  the  asteroids  cannot  exceed  one-fourth  of  the  bulk  of 
the  earth  ;  but,  granting  the  hypothetical  planet  to  have  been  of 
that  size,  a  vast  number  of  additional  fragments  may  still  be 
coursing  their  way  unseen  in  the  region  of  the  broken  world,  as 
it  would  require  400  bodies,  equal  in  size  to  the  largest  of  the 
asteroids,  to  make  up  one-fourth  of  the  earth's  bulk. 

Within  a  few  years,  an  interesting  paper  has  been  produced  by 
an  astronomer  of  our  own  country,  Prof.  Alexander,  of  Princeton, 
in  regard  to  the  size,  form,  rotation,  distance,  etc.,  of  the  original 
asteroid  planet,  some  of  the  views  of  which  we  here  present,  as 
contained  in  the  Annual  of  Scientific  Discovery,  185G. 

"  By  a  skilful  use  of  evidence.  Prof.  Alexander  has  arrived  at 
almost  a  certainty  that,  in  the  space  between  Mars  and  Jupiter, 
once  revolved  a  planet  a  little  more  than  2-8  times  as  far  from  the 
sun  as  our  earth.  The  equatorial  diameter  was  about  70,000 
miles,  but  the  polar  diameter  only  8  miles  !  It  was  not  a  globe, 
but  a  wafer,  nay,  a  disc  of  a  thickness  of  only  gj^^oo*^^  ^^  ^^^  ^i^" 
meter.  Its  time  of  revolution  was  3-098  days,  say  3  days,  15 
hours,  45  minutes.  The  inclination  of  its  orbit  to  the  ecliptic  was 
about  4°.  It  met  a  fate  that  might  have  been  anticipated  from  so 
thin  a  body  whirling  so  furiously,  for  its  motion  on  its  axis  was  y\jth 
of  its  velocity  in  its  orbit,  say  2477  miles  per  hour.  It  burst  as 
grind-stones  and  fly-wheels  sometimes  do.  We  have  found  42  of 
its  fragments,  and  call  them  asteroids.  When  it  burst,  some  parts 
were  moving  2477  miles  per  hour  faster  than  the  centre  did,  and 
some  as  much  slower  ;  that  is,  some  parts  moved  4954  miles  per 
hour  faster  than  the  others.  These  described  a  much  larger  orbit 
than  the  planet  did,  and  the  place  where  it  burst  was  their  peri- 
helion. Others  described  a  smaller  orbit,  because  they  left  that 
point  with  a  diminished  velocity— it  was  their  aphelion.  Some 
flew  above  the  orbit  of  the  planet  and  had  their  ascending  node. 
Others  flew  below,  and  it  was  their  descending  node.  They  seemed 
to  go  almost  in  pairs.  Two  wont  very  f-ir  out  of  the  plane  of  the 
orbit,  so  that  they  pass  the  limits  of  the  zodiac,  and  it  is  found 
that  the  ascending  node  of  18  corresponds  nearly  with  the  descend- 
ing node  of  17.  Thin  as  the  planet  Avas,  it  had  not  cooled  so  much 
at  the  time  of  the  explosion  but  that  some  of  the  fragments  coul4 


336  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

assume  a  spherical  form.  Three  or  four  independent  processes 
for  finding  the  place  of  the  planet  agreed  in  their  results  surpris- 
ingly. He  interjDolated  it  as  a  lost  term  in  a  geometric  series, 
from  Mars  to  Saturn,  for  the  first  approximation.  lie  compared 
it  with  Saturn  and  Jupiter,  and  with  Mars  and  Jupiter.  He 
found  where  a  planet  would  be  dropped  off  in  the  successive  cool- 
ing and  contracting  of  the  solar  system.  And  he  compared  its 
orbit  for  size  and  ellipticity  with  those  of  the  asteroids,  etc.  .  .  . 
It  is  curious  to  see  how  the  history  of  this  planet  verifies  the 
theory  of  La  Place,  that  a  heavenly  body  must  be  either  nearly  a 
sphere,  or  a  disc,  and  that  the  latter  must  be  unstable."  —  Tr.] 

"  [Recent  observation  has  made  it  certain  that  another  and  a 
partially  transparent  ring  exists  within  the  space  circumscribed 
by  the  ring  or  rings  of  Saturn  heretofore  known  to  exist.  This 
ring  was,  as  it  would  appear,  discovered  almost  simultaneously 
by  Prof.  Bond,  of  Boston,  and  Mr.  Dawes,  of  England.  Dr.  Galle, 
of  Berlin,  had  years  previously  noticed  some  indications  which 
are  now  supposed  to  have  been  connected  with  this  ring,  but  their 
true  import  was  not  then  understood. 

"By  observations  made  by  Mr.  Lassell,  of  Malta,  it  appears 
that  the  new  ring  is  transparent  to  such  a  degree  that  the  body 
of  the  planet  can  be  seen  through  it.  The  following  is  the  lan- 
guage of  Lassell :  Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  phenomenon, 
•which  I  now  notice  for  the  first  time,  is  the  evident  transparency 
of  the  obscure  ring ;  both  limbs  of  the  planet  being  distinctly 
seen  through  it  where  it  crosses  the  ball,  quite  through  to  the 
inner  edge  of  the  inner  bright  ring.  To  my  apprehension,  I  can- 
not better  describe  the  entire  aspect  of  the  obscure  ring  than  by 
comparing  it  to  an  annulus  of  black  crape  stretched  within  the 
bright  ring,  which,  when  projected  against  the  black  sky,  as  at 
the  curve,  would,  from  its  reflecting  some  light,  appear  of  a  dark- 
grey  shade ;  and  when  projected  on  the  ball,  would,  from  the 
transmission  of  a  portion  of  the  reflected  light  of  the  ball,  appear 
of  a  much  lighter  grey.  What  the  precise  nature  of  this  marvel- 
ous appendage  can  be,  would  be  an  interesting  subject  of  specu- 
lation, exhibiting,  as  it  were,  a  connecting  link  between  nebulous 
and  solid  matter. 

"  Mr.  J.  P.  Bond  maintains  that  Saturn's  ring  is  in  a  fluid  state, 
or  at  least  does  not  strongly  cohere."     He  is  led  to  this  conclii- 


THE     SHOOTING-STARS.  337 

sion  from  the  changes  observed  in  the  rings,  from  the  difficulties  in 
supposing  numerous  small  solid  concentric  rings  near  each  other, 
and  the  like.  Peculiar  circumstances  may  require  the  separation  of 
either  the  inner  or  outer  portion  of  the  ring  as  commonly  seen, 
giving  rise  to  the  subdivisions  sometimes  seen.  This  separation 
may  be  necessary  for  the  preservation  of  the  equilibrium  of  the 
ring  or  the  parts  of  which  it  is  composed. 

"Prof.  Peirce  has  undertaken  to  show,  from  purely  mechanical 
considerations,  that  Saturn's  ring  cannot  be  solid.  He  maintains 
unconditionally  that  there  is  no  conceivable  form  of  irregularity, 
and  no  combination  of  irregularities  consistent  with  an  actual 
ring,  which  would  serve  to  retain  it  permanently  about  the  pri- 
mary, if  it  were  solid.  He  maintains  that  Laplace's  statement 
of  the  sustaining  power  of  an  irregularity,  was  a  careless  sugges- 
tion, which  was  dropped  at  random,  and  never  subjected  to  the 
scrutiny  of  a  rigid  analogy.  Moreover,  the  fluid  ring  cannot  be 
regarded  as  one  of  real  permanence  without  the  aid  of  foreign 
support.  This  support  he  finds  in  the  action  of  the  satellites. 
The  satellites  are  constantly  disturbing  the  ring,  and  yet  they 
sustain  it  in  the  very  act  of  perturbation. — Recent  Progress  of 
Astronomy,  Loomis,  p.  116  seq. — Tr.] 

§  3.  Shooting-Stars. 

There  have  been  added  by  more  recent  investiga- 
tion, to  the  planets  proper  —  the  dignitaries,  as  it 
were,  in  the  widely  extended  realm  of  the  sun  —  a 
countless  number  of  smaller  planetary  masses,  which 
encircle  his  majesty  in  thickly  crowded  millions. 
Their  presence  is  betrayed  alone  by  the  fact  that 
they  meet  the  earth  in  their  mysterious  career,  and 
then,  at  the  boundaries  of  our  atmosphere,  assume  a 
glowing  brightness,  through  some  process  not  yet 
understood  —  perhaps  an  electric  one  —  and  finally, 
overcome  in  many  cases  by  the  attraction  of  the 
earth,  lose  their  independence  and  fall  to  its  surface. 
These  are  the  so-called  Shooting-Stars,  together  with 
29 


6Db  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

fire-balls  and  meteoric  stones  (aerolites),  which  all  with 
scarcely  a  doubt  belong  to  the  same  category.^ 

The  height  of  the  shooting-stars — the  point  at  which 
they  commence  or  cease  to  be  visible  —  varies  from 
18  to  160  miles.  The  relative  velocity  of  their  move- 
ment is  from  18  to  40  miles  in  a  second  —  much  the 
same  as  that  of  the  planets  nearest  the  earth  (Mer- 
cury 28  miles  in  a  second,  the  Earth  19),  though 
somewhat  greater.  "  They  fall  either  singly  and 
not  very  frequently  —  sporadically  —  or  in  numbers 
amounting  to  thousands.  The  latter  cases  (Arabian 
writers  compare  them  to  swarms  of  locusts)  are 
periodic."  The  most  noted  of  these  periodic  occur- 
rences is  the  so-called  IsTovember  phenomenon  (from 
the  12th  to  the  14th  of  Kov.),  as  also  the  stream  of 
St.  Laurentius  (from  the  9th  to  the  14th  of  August). 
The  latter  is  so  called,  because  of  its  taking  place 
during  the  festival  of  this  saint  (Aug.  10th),  whose 
"fiery  tears"  were  long  since  represented  in  old 
church-calendars  of  England,  as  regularly  recurring 
phenomena. 

Alex,  von  Humboldt  ^v^t  called  attention  to  the 
periodicity  of  these  phenomena.  lie  was  led  to 
remark  it  particularly,  from  the  unparalleled  pheno- 
menon of  shooting-stars  which  was  observed  in 
North  America,  on  the  12th  and  13th  of  Nov.  1833. 
On  that  occasion  they  fell  from  one  region  of  the 
heavens,  thick  as  snow-flakes — at  least  240,000  were 
seen  in  some  places  in  the  course  of  an  hour. 

The  final  result  of iT^wJo/c^^'s  inquiries,  to  which 

'  Compare,  particularly,  Humboldt's  Cosmos,  and  MUdler's 
Asii\  Brief e,  p.  P)35-343. 


THE     COMETS.  339 

most  scientific  minds  assent,  is  this  :  "  The  different 
meteoric  streams,  each  one  of  which  consists  of  my- 
riads of  small  cosmical  bodies,  probably  cut  the  orbit 
of  the  earth.  We  may  imagine  them  as  forming  a 
closed  ring,  and  pursuing  the  same  common  orbit." 
Meteoric  stones  are,  indeed,  composed  of  elements 
such  as  are  to  be  met  with  upon  the  earth  (particu- 
larly pyrites,  magnetic  ore,  iron  and  nickel) ;  "  but 
scarcely  ever  in  such  combinations  as  obtain  in 
bodies  belonging  to  our  globe." 

§  4.   The  Comets. 

Before  leaving  the  realm  of  the  sun,  we  must  cast 
a  glance  at  another  class  of  his  vassals — the  Comets. 
They  at  times  approach  in  their  sweeping  career 
much  closer  to  this  mighty  sovereign  sphere  than  is 
ever  dared  by  any  of  the  planets ;  and  then  pass  off 
in  their  extremely  elliptical  orbits,  to  the  very  outer 
limits  of  the  solar  system,  absenting  themselves  for 
centuries,  and  even  for  thousands  of  years.  The 
province  of  the  solar  system,  of  which  Uranus  was 
still  the  outer  planetary  sentinel,  so  far  as  knowledge 
until  recently  extended,  had  been  enlarged  at  least 
forty  times  through  the  far-distant  adventures  of 
these  erratic  bodies  —  enlarged  truly,  but  to  a  vast 
"terra  incognita."  In  spite  of  the  roving  nature  of 
these  bodies,  they  still  obe}^,  as  do  all  the  worlds  of 
tlie  universe,  the  great  laws  of  cosmical  movement 
discovered  by  Kepler.  Thus,  the  comet  of  1860, 
which  ventures  44  times  further  away  from  the  sun 
than  the  extremely  remote  Uranus,  and  completes 
one  revolution  only  in  9000  years,  moves  at  the  rate 


340  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

of  248  miles  in  a  second,  or  with  thirteen  times  the 
velocity  of  the  earth,  when  at  its  perihelion  (only 
144,000  miles  from  the  sun's  surface) ;  hut  when  at 
its  aphelion,  scarcely  10  feet  in  a  second.  But  it 
must  be  confessed,  such  extremes  of  motion  are  not 
to  he  found,  in  the  case  of  any  other  comet. 

The  physical  constitution  of  the  comets  differs 
very  widely  from  that  of  the  planets.  "It  would 
indeed  be  carrying  the  matter  too  far,  to  deny  them  all 
materiality,  and,  consequently,  all  substantial  reality ; 
but  still,  observation  has  taught  us  that  our  accus- 
tomed ideas  of  physical  bodies,  appear  to  entirely 
fail  of  application  to  them.  In  spite  of  a  diameter 
of  many  thousands,  yea,  of  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  miles,  they  are  quite  transparent,  and  possess  no 
power  of  refracting  light.  Our  air  when  most  rare- 
lied  would  not  be  so  completely  impassive  and  devoid 
of  power  to  produce  effects.  The  nuclei  of  these 
bodies  even,  are  probably  much  rarer  than  common 
air,  so  that  our  conceptions  of  heavenly  bodies  as 
solid  masses,  lose  all  application  in  this  connection. 
This  idea  is  favored  by  the  fact  that  they  experience 
very  sudden  and  momentous  changes  in  their  aspects, 
wdiich  certainly  proves  a  remarkable  volatilization 
and  mobility  of  their  parts.  The  end  they  fulfil  in 
the  great  plan  of  the  universe  is  in  all  probability 
beyond  the  power  of  our  minds  to  discover." 

"  That  comets  are  not  solid  bodies  appears  from 
the  fact  that  they  experience  such  great  and  sudden 
changes.  Neither  can  they  partake  of  a  fluid  or 
gaseous  form,  for  in  either  case  the  rays  of  light 
would  then  be  refracted.     But  what,  then,  are  these 


THE    COMETS.  341 

bodies?  We  can  but  confess  onr  ignorance,  and  say 
that  as  the  earth  furnishes  us  with  nothing  analo- 
gous, it  is  altogether  impossible  to  profess  any  de- 
finite knowledge  on  this  point.  Perhaps  they  are 
composed  of  extremely  minute,  difl'used,  dust-like 
particles."^ 

It  has  been  satisfactorily  determined  by  actual  ex- 
periment, that  the  light  of  comets  is  not  an  inherent 
light,  but  that  it  is  derived  from  the  sun.  —  The 
orbits  of  these  strange  w^anderers  lie  in  all  directions 
about  the  sun — they  pass  from  east  to  west,  as  w^ell 
as  from  west  to  east.  The  number  of  the  comets 
has  never  been  determined.  Although  but  some 
500  of  them  have  been  closely  observed,  doubtless 
many  thousands  may  still  be  speeding  their  w^ays 
through  the  remote  regions  of  the  solar  system, 
entirely  withdrawn  from  all  human  observation  for 
the  time. 


[The  great  comet  of  1843  presents  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
of  these  phenomena  on  record,  and  may  serve  to  give  the  mind 
some  idea  of  the  wonders  connected  with  the  life  and  experience 
of  a  comet.  It  approached  the  sun  so  closely  as  to  become  red 
hot  (according  to  Loomis),  and  retained  a  peculiar  .;?er?/  appear- 
ance for  some  days  after  its  perihelion.  It  absolutely  almost 
grazed  the  sun,  and  whirled  around  it  at  such  a  prodigious  rate, 
that  in  two  hours  it  swept  over  more  than  1,000,000  miles  of  solar 
surface.  Sir  John  Ilerschel  computed  the  heat  it  must  have  re- 
ceived from  the  sun,  at  its  perihelion,  at  47,000  times  that  we 
received  from  that  great  luminary ;  a  heat  sufficient  to  convert 
almost  any  substance  upon  earth  into  vapor,  or  at  least  intensely 
ignite  it.     The  comet  was  visible  for  40  days  :  the  nebulosity  of 

'  Mlldler,  Astr,  Briefe,  p.  290. 
29  '^ 


342  ASTRONOMICAL     FACTS. 

its  head  was  about  36,000  miles  in  diameter,  and  the  length  of  its 
tail,  when  most  fully  developed,  108,000,000  of  miles ! 

"  The  following  circumstances  invest  the  comet  of  1843  with 
peculiar  interest:  1st,  Its  small  perihelion  distance;  being  as 
small  as  that  of  any  comet  whose  orbit  has  been  computed,  and 
nearly  as  small  as  is  physically  possible.  2d,  The  length  of  its 
tail ;  being  equal  to  that  of  any  comet  hitherto  observed." — Loomis, 
Recent  Progress  of  Astronomy^  p.  131. 

Bella's  comet,  discovered  in  1826,  and  having  a  period  of  over 
Co  years,  was  seen  on  its  return  in  1846,  to  be  divided  into  two 
parts,  constituting,  as  it  were,  two  comets  sweeping  along  side  by 
side.  This  strange  phenomenon  greatly  attracted  the  attention  of 
astronomers.  A  subsequent  appearance  in  1852  has  shown  that 
the  body  is  permanently  divided.  The  two  nuclei,  when  last  seen, 
were  more  than  1^  millions  of  miles  distant  from  each  other — much 
further  than  in  1846.  It  Is  supposed  the  comet  may,  perhaps, 
have  been  divided  by  a  repulsive  force  emanating  from  the  sun. 

That  comets  are  composed  of  ponderable  matter,  however  light 
and  diffused  it  may  be,  is  proved  by  the  circumstance  that  they 
are  affected  in  their  movements  by  the  attraction  of  the  planets. 
It  at  the  same  time  becomes  evident  that  the  density  of  these 
bodies  is  incalculably  small,  since  no  slightest  effect  of  theirs  can 
be  detected  on  the  planets. — Tr.] 

§  5.   Origin  and  Stahility  of  the  Solar  System. 

We  might  at  the  close  of  this  glance  at  the  con- 
stitution of  the  solar  system,  inquire  whether  As- 
tronomy is  capable  of  furnishing  us  with  any  results, 
bearing  the  stamp  of  reliability  or  of  probability, 
as  to  the  origin  of  this  system.  But  it  is  at  once 
perceived  that  to  give  such  information  is  not 
the  mission  of  that  science,  nor  is  it  competent  to 
the  task  of  supplying  it.  Astronomical  speculation 
may,  indeed,  as  we  readily  admit,  with  a  full  acknow- 
ledgment of  its  rights,  advance  more  or  less  plan 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    SOLAR    SYSTEM.  343 

sible  theories  founded  upon  the  condition  of  the 
actual  present,  to  explain  how  it  originated^  from  a 
hypothetical  past.  But  all  its  claims  to  vouch  for 
the  correctness  and  reliabilit}^  of  these  theories,  are 
in  all  cases  and  under  all  circumstances  equally  futile 
and  unwarrantable. 

'  The  most  plausible  hypothesis,  and  the  one  best  accounting 
for  the  facts  in  the  case,  in  regard  to  the  origin  of  the  solar  sys- 
tem, is  that  one  brought  forward  by  the  celebrated  mathematician, 
Laplace,  in  his  Exposition  du  Systeme  du  Monde  (compare  Mad- 
ler,  Astr,  Briefe,  p.  335  seq.).  LapJace  assumes  that  our  system 
originated  from  an  inconceivably  rare  and  immensely  extended 
mass  of  matter  without  definite  form  and  possessed  of  a  rotary 
movement.  The  gradual  cooling  of  this  mass  caused  a  contrac- 
tion or  diminution  of  its  volume,  which  must  have  produced, 
according  to  the  law  of  Kepler,  an  acceleration  of  its  rotary  mo- 
tion. Hence  it  would  gradually  become  more  and  more  flattened 
at  the  poles,  assuming  a  somewhat  lenticular  form  as  its  matter 
gathered  towards  the  equator.  The  more  the  latter  tendency 
exhibited  itself,  and  the  rotary  motion  increased  from  a  diminu- 
tion of  the  volume  as  the  process  of  cooling  progressed,  so  much 
the  more  must  there  have  been  developed  a  tendency  of  the  parta 
about  the  equator  to  separate  from  the  general  mass,  as  the  cen- 
trifugal force  would  be  constantly  on  the  increase.  A  separation  at 
length  actually  took  place,  as  soon  as  the  centrifugal  force  was 
sufficiently  developed.  In  the  simplest  case,  a  circular  zone  must 
have  been  separated  from  the  circumference  of  the  mass,  which 
would  continue  to  rotate  as  a  ring,  and  in  which  the  process  of 
contraction  would  still  go  on.  AYere  this  ring  of  equal  density  in 
all  its  parts,  it  might  retain  the  annular  form,  but  so  soon  as  a 
dynamic  preponderance  exhibited  itself  in  any  one  point,  it  must 
begin  to  gather  itself  together  into  a  globular  mass.  Were  there 
several,  or  more  than  one,  such  points  of  preponderance,  the  ring 
must  break,  and  its  several  parts  assume  the  globular  form.  Thus 
the  planets  were  produced :  the  outer  first.  But  contraction  and 
rotation,  with  all  their  consequences,  would  still  continue  in  the 
separated  masses,  and  produce  at  length,  from  the  substance  of 


344  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

Connected  with  the  question  as  to  the  origin  of 
the  solar  system  is  another  concerning  the  stahility 
and  duration  of  the  present  order  of  that  system. 
Here  science  may  speak  more  decisively.     Supported 

these  rapidly-whirling  spheres,  new  rings,  for  the  formation  of 
secondary  bodies.  In  the  case  of  the  earth,  the  ring  cast  ojff  was 
collected  into  a  single  sphere — the  moon:  in  the  cases  of  Jupiter, 
Saturn,  and  Uranus,  it  was  respectively  broken  into  a  certain 
number  o^  fragments,  con&\Ai\xt\i\g  their  satellites;  whilst  in  the 
case  of  Saturn,  it  happened  that  one  of  the  rings  retained  its  ori- 
ginal form.  The  inner  planetary  masses  being  last  cast  off  from 
the  great  central  sphere,  when  its  density  was  greatly  enhanced, 
did  not  admit  of  the  production  of  secondary  bodies  under  the 
circumstances  of  their  rotation.  By  far  the  greater  part  of  the 
original  mass  remained  undivided,  constituting  the  huge  body  of 
the  sun. — Most  of  the  phenomena  within  our  solar  system  are 
explained  by  this  hypothesis  in  a  satisfactory  manner.  But  it 
does  not  account  for  them  all,  and  there  are  some  contradictory 
facts :  for  instance,  the  body  of  the  sun  is  not  as  dense,  to  say' 
nothing  of  being  denser,  than  his  nearest  planet  —  his  density 
equals  only  that  of  Jupiter,  one  of  the  most  distant  of  the'planet- 
ary  masses.  Laplace  did  not  make  any  account  of  the  comets, 
or  attempt  to  explain  them.  Mddler  supplies  this  defect  as  fol- 
lows: All  parts  of  the  original  mass  were  not  capable  of  so  great 
condensation,  and  hence,  as  soon  as  the  planetary  masses  permit- 
ted this,  these  refractory  portions  separated  themselves  in  their 
original  state ;  and  as  such  separation  took  place  not  only  iu  the 
equatorial  but  in  all  regions  of  the  great  mass,  we  can  easily  ac- 
count for  the  inclinations  and  eccentricities  observable  in  the 
orbits  of  the  comets.  Schuherfs  Ansclianung  von  der  Bildung 
unseres  Sonnensystems  nacli  seinem  gegenicdrtigen  Bestande,  com  p. 
chap.  6,  §  6  obs.  5. 

[We  may  in  this  connection  note  the  bold  and  ingenious  appli- 
cation of  the  nebular  hypothesis,  to  some  of  the  vast  forms  in  the 
heavens,  by  our  own  countryman.  Prof.  S.  Alexander,  and  on  a 
scale  so  grand  that  any  ideas  of  world-production  we  may  gather 
from  the  application  of  the  principle  involved  to  a  mass  of  matter 


ORIGIN    OF   THE    SOLAR    SYSTEM.  345 

by  the  experience  and  observation  of  thousands  of 
years,  it  may  boldly  maintain  that  in  spite  of  all 
antagonistic  forces  which  are  at  work,  in  spite  of  a 
wonderfully  involved  whirl  of  movements,  yea,  in 
spite  of  all  perturbations  and  disturbances  which 
may  here  and  there  occur  (themselves  controlled  by 
unchangeable  laws),  the  present  order  of  our  solar 
system  bears  the  character  of  a  stability  the  most 
unshaken  and  abidinfi*.  Ever  since  all  fear  that  the 
world  might  be  destroyed  by  coming  in  contact  with 
some  roving  comet  has  been  got  rid  of,  through  a 
knowledge  of  the  light  physical  properties  of  these 
bodies,  no  agency  or  discoverable  accident  within 
the  whole  compass  of  our  system  has  been  known 
to  Astronomy,  by  which  the  order  of  this  system 
might  be  destroyed  or  even  materially  changed. 

equal  to  that  comprehended  by  our  solar  system,  can  scarcely 
serve  as  stepping-stones  to  an  adequate  conception  of  what  must 
have  taken  place  in  the  production  of  the  thickly-strewn  worlds 
of  the  fixed  stars. 

Prof,  Alexander  says :  "  The  material  of  which  some  of  the 
clusters  and  resolvable  nebulae  were  formed,  may  have  been — 1st. 
A  fluid  spheroid  of  great  ellipticity,  the  gradual  cooling  of  which 
might  increase  its  velocity,  and  produce  a  rupture  and  dispersion 
which  would  respectively  give  rise  to  the  present  forms  of  the 
spiral  nebulce  observed  by  Lord  Rosse.  The  Milky  Way  may 
have  this  form. 

"2d.  A  ring  may  have  been  the  primary  form,  or  a  spheroid 
may  have  been  transformed  into  a  ring,  the  subsequent  rupture 
of  which  might  give  rise  to  other  recognized  forms. 

*•  3d.  The  simultaneous  rupture  of  a  ring  might  give  rise  to  the 
annular  nebula  in  Lyra  and  others. 

"4th.  The  simultaneous  rupture  of  a  spheroid  might  give  rise 
to  the  *  Dumb-bell'  nebula  and  others. 

"  5th.  Globular  nebula?  also  show  traces  of  similar  action.'" — Tr.] 


346  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

§  6.  Parallaxes  of  the  Fixed  Stars. 

But  it  is  time  for  i^s  to  mount  up  into  higher 
spheres.  Leaving  Neptune  and  the  comets,  we 
hasten  towards  Sirius,  burning  in  the  depths  of 
space,  surrounded  by  his  countless  thousands  of  bro- 
ther stars,  who  all,  as  friendly  messengers  of  higher 
and  holier  regions,  greet  us  with  their  sparkling, 
glowing  light.  Urging  our  way  deeper  into  the 
vault  of  heaven,  we  behold  through  the  telescope 
the  milky-way,  which  to  the  naked  eye  appears  as  a 
faint  zone  of  whitish  lustre,  resolved  into  millions 
of  worlds,  radiant  as  those  we  have  left  behind ;  yea, 
piercing  still  further  into  the  unflithomable  depths 
before  us,  our  wondering  eyes  rest  on  thousands  of 
nebulous  clouds,  floating  at  a  distance  such  as  mocks 
the  scrutinizing  glance  of  the  best  instruments  of 
our  day. 

Vision  and  thought,  indeed,  can  travel  over  this 
immeasurable  distance  in  an  inconceivably  short 
space  of  time;  but  the  brain  which  begets  the 
thought,  and  the  eye  which  casts  the  glance,  cannot 
follow  their  swift-footed  ofispring,  nor  measure  the 
distance  gone  over  according  to  any  ordinary  rules 
of  measurement.  "  To  learn  the  distance  of  a  single 
star,"  said  a  recent  astronomer,^  ''is  the  abiding 
hope,  the  most  ardent  desire  of  the  astronomer. 
There  are  some  things  to  be  despaired  of  in  every 
sphere  of  knowledge.  Astronomy  is  not  a  privileged 
science — it  too  must  sometimes  despair." 

The  calculation   of   the   parallaxes   of    the  fixed 


Pfaff,  der  Menscli  und  die  Erde,  Niirnburg,  1834,  p.  41. 


PARALLAXES    OF   THE   FIXED    STARS.        347 

stars  ■  had  heretofore  been  so  irregular  and  arbitmiy, 
that  all  hope  of  ever  arriving  at  any  sure  information 
on  this  point  seemed  about  to  depart,  when  the 
observations  of  Struve  and  Bessel  (in  the  year  1836) 
brought  about  results  so  reliable  and  happy  be- 
yond all  expectation.  These  two  noted  astrono- 
mers succeeded  in  solving  this  great  problem,  by  a 
most  careful  observation  of  optically  doubted  stars 
(i.  e.  stars  which  to  the  eye  appear  very  close  to  each 
other,  but  which  in  reality  are  not  related,  but 
separated  by  immeasurable  distances).  The  princi- 
ple upon  which  they  proceeded  was  this  :  stars  which 
appear  when  first  observed  to  be  in  an  almost  perfect 
range,  must  after  the  lapse  of  six  months'  time,  when 
the  earth  has^  arrived  at  a  point  some  200  millions 
of  miles  distant  from  the  place  of  first  observation, 
appear  somewhat  altered  in  their  relative  positions. 
The  parallaxes  of  the  nearest  fixed  stars,  it  was  soon 
discovered,  might  be  determined  by  the  application 
of  this  principle.  Struve  chose  for  observation  the  bril- 
liant star  a,  or  Yega,  in  the  Lyre,  near  which,  at  the 
distance  of  43  seconds,  lies  a  faint  star  of  the  eleventh 

'  By  the  parallaxes  of  the  fixed  stars  is  understood  the  apparent 
displacement  of  those  bodies,  arising  from  their  being  viewed 
from  different  or  opposite  points  in  the  orbit  of  the  earth,  or,  what 
is  the  same  thing,  the  apparent  magnitude  or  diameter  of  the 
orbit  of  the  earth  as  viewed  from  the  fixed  stars  respectively.  The 
diameter  of  the  earth's  orbit  being  about  200  millions  of  miles, 
the  points  from  which  a  star  is  viewed  at  times  separated  by  an 
interval  of  six  months,  must  consequently  be  distant  from  each 
other  also  200  millions  of  miles.  If  any  displacement  capable  of 
measurement  is  detected  in  the  position  of  a  star  when  viewed 
from  points  so  widely  separated,  it  is  said  to  have  a  sensible 
parallax . 


348  ASTRONOMICAL     FACTS. 

magnitude.  As  the  former  was  from  its  brightness 
reo^arded  as  one  of  the  nearest  stars,  and  both  mi^-ht 
safely  be  considered  devoid  of  all  connection  or 
mutual  dependence  of  movement,  they  seemed 
specially  fitted  for  his  object.  As  the  result  of  ninety- 
six  observations,  this  astronomer  obtained  a  parallax 
of  0^'-2613  for  the  star  Vega.  According  to  this 
parallax  the  latter  star  must  lie  at  the  distance  of 
789,400  times  the  semi-diameter  of  the  earth's  orbit, 
or  about  75  billions  of  miles,  a  distance  through 
which  light  could  not  travel  in  less  than  12  years  and 
one  month. — Bessel,  on  the  other  hand,  examined  the 
star  61  of  the  Swan,  which  indeed  is  of  much  less 
brilliancy  than  Yega,  but  which  on  account  of  its 
peculiarly  large  proper  motion  —  the  most  consider- 
able known — excited  a  more  reasonable  supposition 
that  it  must  be  one  of  the  nearest  of  the  fixed  stars. 
He  compared  this  star  with  two  faint  ones  at  the 
respective  lateral  distances  of  460^'  and  705'',  and 
obtained  as  the  result  of  402  careful  observations,  a 
parallax  of  0''-3483,  which  would  make  the  distance 
of  the  star  to  which  it  belongs  592,200  times  that  of 
the  sun,  or  about  56  billions  of  miles,  requiring  9J 
years  for  the  passage  of  light.  The  parallax  of  the 
Polar  Star  was  found  by  Peters  (who  subsequently 
made  33  other  measurements  of  a  similar  nature)  to 
be  0''-067.  These  results  he  obtained  from  very 
numerous  and  close  observations.  According  to  his 
conclusions  the  Polar  Star  must  be  distant  from  us 
three  million  times  the  distance  from  the  earth  to  the 
sun.  Its  light  cannot  reach  us  in  less  than  43  years. 
Further,  Ifadear   and  Henderson   having   quite   re- 


PARALLAXES    OF    THE    FIXED    STARS.        349 

cently,  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  examined  several 
southern  stars  with  reference  to  their  parallaxes, 
found  one  of  them,  a  of  the  Centaur,  to  have  a  paral- 
lax of  0'''9213.  This  result  was  ohtained  from 
several  hundred  observations.  According  to  it,  this 
star,  a  Centauri,  which  is  one  of  the  brightest  in  the 
heavens,  possessing  also  a  very  large  proper  motion, 
and  being  encircled  by  the  orbit  of  a  star  of  the 
fourth  magnitude,  must  be  the  nearest  to  our  earth  of 
all  the  fixed  stars:  —  distant  223,000  times  as  far  as 
the  sun,  or  about  20  billions  of  miles,  and  requiring 
three  years  and  a  half  for  its  light  to  reach  our  earth. 
Rilmker  fixed  the  parallax  of  Arcturus  at  0''-34. 
Hence,  nine  and  a  half  years  would  be  required  for 
its  light  to  pass  to  our  planet. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  distances  of  several  of  the 
nearest  stars  have  been  determined  with  reasonable 
accuracy.  As  respects  those  lying  in  the  more 
remote  regions  of  space,  w^e  shall  perhaps  for  ever 
be  left  in  doubt,  or  to  calculations  which  can  never 
rise  beyond  probable  correctness.  Of  the  latter  kind 
we  may  mention  the  calculations  of  the  astronomer 
3Iddler,  who  computes  that  it  would  require  2934 
years  for  light  to  pass  from  the  nearest  point  in  the 
milky-way  to  our  earth,  and  from  its  most  distant 
point  3836  years. 


[The  parallaxes  of  some  five  additional  stars  seem  now  to  have 
been  determined. 

Henderson  ascribes  to  Sirius  a  parallax  of  0^^,230,  with  a  dis- 
tance of  896,780  times  the  radius  of  the  earth's  orbit,  requiring 
over  14  years  for  the  passage  of  light.  Peters  finds,  for  the  star 
1830  of  Goombridge's  Catalogue,  a  parallax  of  0^^,148 ;  hence,  a 
30 


350  AST  11  GNOMICAL    FACTS. 

distance  which  light  would  not  traverse  in  less  than  about  22 
years.  He  also  finds  a  parallax  of  0^^-046  for  Capella,  placing 
that  star  at  4,484,000  times  the  distance  of  the  sun,  73  years  being 
required  for  its  light  to  reach  our  eyes.  M.  0.  Stnive  announces 
that  he  has  recently  found  the  parallax  of  a  Cassiopeae  to  be 
0''''*34,  and  the  parallax  of  a  Aurigae  to  be  0^^*30.  He  also  thinks 
the  parallax  ascribed  by  M.  Struve  to  Vega  to  be  too  large,  his 
results  giving  a  parallax  of  0^^*15  for  that  star.  M.  Peters  has 
attempted  to  determine  the  absolute  distances  of  the  stars  of  vari- 
ous magnitudes,  and  arrives  at  the  result  that  the  time  required 
for  the  passage  of  light  from  these  bodies  to  us,  ranges  from  15  to 
120  years,  on  the  average,  for  stars  from  the  first  to  the  sixth 
magnitude. — Tr.] 

§  7.  Solar  Nature  of  the  Fixed  Stars. 

The  sceptre  of  the  sun,  so  potent  within  the  solar 
system,  does  not  extend  to  the  regions  of  the  fixed 
stars.  TJnafifected  by  the  influence  of  the  mighty 
king  of  day,  which  to  so  amazing  a  distance  enchains 
all  things  to  himself,  these  worlds  pursue  their  silent, 
majestic  courses  adown  the  ages — light  or  heat  from 
the  sun  they  ask  not.  They  scorn  to  be  regarded  as 
vassals,  and  claim  a  position  as  brother  stars  to  the 
sun,  sprung  from  the  same  source  of  light,  and  led 
by  the  same  almighty  hand  in  a  circling  dance 
through  the  immensity  of  space,  to  the  praise  of 
Him  by  whom  they  were  created. 

Suns  they  certainly  are — those  brilliant  points  in 
the  firmament,  which  still  remain  but  points  when 
viewed  through  the  best  instruments — if  an  inherent 
power  of  giving  light  be  the  ensign  of  their  high 
position,  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  a  sun. 
For  the  fact  that  their  light  is  inherent,  and  not 
borrowed  as  in  the  case  of  the  planets,  is  indicated 


by  the  circumstance  of  their  extreme  remoteness,  as 
well  as  the  intensity  of  their  light  while  they  present 
to  the  eye  a  mere  point  instead  of  an  appreciable 
diameter.  We  have,  however,  a  direct  means  of 
setting  this  question  to  rest.  The  light  of  the  fixed 
stars,  just  as  the  light  of  the  sun,  presents  no  marks 
of  polarization;  while  reflected  light  everywhere 
reveals  itself  as  such  by  the  fact  of  its  polarization. 
That  the  proper  light  of  the  fixed  stars  is  in  general 
of  essentiall}'  the  same  nature,  follows  the  same  laws 
of  dispersion,  and  is  possessed  of  the  same  velocity, 
notwithstanding  the  various  colors  it  assumes,  is 
taught  by  observation,  for  the  constant  of  abberation 
is  the  same  in  the  cases  of  all  the  fixed  stars. "^ 

Again,  the  multiplicity  of  colors  exhibited  by  these 
brilliant  points  in  the  vault  of  heaven,  is  very 
remarkable.  The  double  stars  particularly,  but 
many  also  of  the  single  stars,  display  to  our  admira- 
tion, colors  bright  and  variegated,  accompanied  with 
the  most  profuse  and  delicate  shadings.  Here  glows 
a  star  with  a  red  or  ruddy  light,  there  sparkles  an- 
other with  a  blue  or  greenish  tint,  while  others  cast 
a  more  or  less  intense  ray  of  yellow,  or  reveal  them- 
selves in  purest  white. 

The  intensity  of  light  with  which  the  fixed  stars 
shine,  is,  also,  strikingly  different  in  the  difierent 
stars.  It  is  conditioned  both  by  the  magnitude  and 
distance  of  these  bodies,  as  well  as  the  amount  of 
light  developed  upon  them.  The  strength  of  their 
ray  is  capable  of  measurement,  and  the  distance  of 
at  least  some  of  the  nearest  stars   has  been  deter- 

*  M'cidler,  jjop.  Astr.,  p.  391. 


352  ASTRONOTkllCAL    FACTS. 

mined.  From  these  data  may  be  found  the  real 
light-giving  power  of  any  star  in  comparison  with 
our  sun.  But  it  still  remains  undetermined  in  this 
calculation,  how  much  of  this  light  is  to  be  referred 
to  the  greater  or  lesser  intensity  of  the  star's  light  on 
the  one  hand,  or  to  the  greater  or  lesser  magnitude 
of  the  star  on  the  other ;  for  astronomy  has  never 
yet  passed  the  means  of  arriving  at  the  magnitude 
of  a  single  fixed  star. 

"  The  light  of  Sirius  is,  according  to  the  closest 
measurements,  20,000  million  times  weaker  than  the 
light  of  our  sun.  Hence  we  may  learn  from  calcu- 
lation, that  were  the  sun  removed  from  us  141,400 
times  the  distance  it  now  is,  it  would  appear  to  us  as 
a  star  of  only  the  brightness  and  apparent  magnitude 
of  Sirius.  But  those  fixed  stars  which  present  to  us 
any  appreciable  parallax,  and  must  for  this  reason 
be  considered  those  nearest  our  system,  are  removed 
from  us  from  200,000  to  800,000  times  the  distance 
of  our  sun.  But  Sirius  is  not  to  be  classed  among 
the  nearest  of  the  stars,  and  no  well-founded  objection 
can  be  made  to  the  assertion  of  the  great  English 
philosopher  {WoUaston),  that  Sirius  shines  with  such 
a  brilliancy  as  would  scarcely  be  produced  by  14 
suns  like  ours  (or  a  luminous  body  14  times  the  size 
of  our  sun)  at  such  a  distance.  The  star  Vega,  in 
the  constellation  of  the  Lyre,  is,  in  all  probability, 
much  nearer  us  than  Sirius,  yet  the  strength  of  its 
lio-ht  is  only  one-ninth  that  of  the  dog-star.  The 
'Star  61  Cygni  belongs,  as  shown  by  its  parallax,  to 
the  nearest  of  the  stars,  yet  its  light  is  still  much 
weaker."     (Schubert,  JSfaturlehre,  p.  78). 


THE    MILKY- WAY.  353 

Thus,  then,  the  fixed  stars  are  suns  like  our  sun, 
shining  from  their  own  unborrowed  light,  and  some 
of  them  far  surpassing  it  in  brilliancy,  be  this  on 
account  of  a  vast  excess  in  size,  or  from  a  greater 
clearness  and  intensity  of  light. 

However  unhesitatingly  we  may  from  this  point 
of  view  accord  to  the  fixed  stars  the  name  of  suns, 
the  application  of  the  term  is  of  doubtful  propriety, 
as  we  may  here  take  occasion  to  remark  somewhat 
in  anticipation,  if  we  look  upon  the  position  and 
physical  constitution  of  the  sun  in  other  respects, 
its  dark  planetary  body,  and  its  relation  to  planets, 
moons  and  comets,  as  essential  characteristics  of  a  hea- 
venly body  that  would  be  called  a  sun :  for  in  these  re- 
spects the  analogy  cannot  at  all  be  established,  and  in- 
deed there  is  much,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  in 
direct  conflict  with  such  a  view  in  connection  with 
most  of  the  fixed  stars. 

§  8.   The  Milky  Way. 

The  unaided  eye,  when  cast  aloft  at  night,  beholds 
a  whitish  glimmer  or  band  of  light  traversing  the 
whole  vault  of  heaven,  or  encircling  it  like  a  girdle. 
What  was  matter  of  conjecture  from  the  earliest 
times — that  this  band  of  light  was  composed  of  the 
united  rays  of  countless  distant  stars,  incapable  of 
being  separately  distinguished  on  account  of  their 
extreme  remoteness — was  proven  by  Herschel's  tele- 
scope to  be  an  indubitable  fact. 

W.  Ilerschel  regarded  the  Milky  "Way  and  the 
visible  stars  as  all  belonging  to  one  vast  system,  "  but 
he  did  not  in  accordance  with  former  assumptions 
30* 


354  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

ascribe  to  this  system  a  spheincal  forni.  He  imagined 
the  system  to  be  projected  in  space  in  the  form  of  a 
flat,  lenticular  plane,  near  the  midst  of  wliich  our 
soLar  system  was  situated,  the  whole  presenting  in 
general  the  form  of  one  vast  circle  or  plane  of  stars. 
Subsequently,  however,  he  assumed  the  view  that 
the  stars  constituted  a  vast  ring.  The  most  recent 
investigations  have  established  this  view,  but  with 
this  modification,  that  the  Milky  Way  consists  not 
of  one,  but  a  system  of  several  or  at  least  two  con- 
centric rings  of  stars,  encompassing  all  the  single 
visible  stars. 

The  Milky  Way  does  not  strictly  form  one  vast 
circle  through  the  midst  of  the  vault  of  the  heavens, 
but  divides  it  into  two  unequal  parts,  the  superficies 
of  which  are  to  each  other  as  8  to  9.  Besides,  it  is 
separated  through  |  of  its  course  into  two-  arms, 
which  again  merge  into  each  other.  These  two  facts 
find  their  explanation  in  the  discovery  that  the  Milky 
Way  consists  of  two  concentric  rings,  and  that  the 
position  of  our  sun  is  excentric  in  the  concourse  of 
stars  encircled  by  these  rings.  For  if  we  held  a 
central  position  with  respect  to  these  rings,  the  Milky 
Way  would  divide  the  vault  of  heaven  into  two  equal 
halves,  and  the  inner  ring  would  so  completely  cover 
the  outer,  that  no  longitudinal  division  could  be 
perceived  in  the  whole  course  of  the  Milky  Way. 
Our  solar  system  does  not  therefore  lie  in  the  plane 
of  the  Milky  Way,  but  outside  of  it,  in  that  part  of 
the  heavens  divided  by  the  latter  which  appears 
largest  to  the  eye  (i.  e.,  in  the  direction  of  the  autum- 
nal equinoctial  point).     But  we  must  conclude  from 


THE     MILKY- WAY.  355 

the  fact  that  the  Milky  Way  appears  to  us  through- 
out I  of  its  course  as  a  simple  band  of  light,  while 
it  is  divided  for  the  other  f  of  its  length  into  two 
arms,  that  our  position  in  space  is  considerably 
nearer  to  that  part  of  the  Milky  Way  where  the  two 
rings  appear  separated,  than  to  the  opposite  region, 
where  the  outer  ring  is  completely  covered  by  the 
inner.  "  The  middle  of  the  divided  portion  of  the 
Milk\^  ^V"ay  lies  in  the  Scorpion,  and  we  must  con- 
sequently look  for  the  nearest  point  in  the  former  in 
the  direction  of  the  same  constellation." 

But  there  are  inequalities  and  irregularities  ob- 
served in  these  two  rings  which  cannot  be  explained 
as  optical  illusions.  "At  some  points  they  are 
broader  than  at  others,  have  an  increased  brilliancy, 
and  are  subject  to  irregular  bends,  divisions,  &c." 
The  bridge-like  arms  which  pass  between  and  con- 
nect the  rings  in  several  places  are  worthy  of  special 
remark. 

Whether  there  still  exist  bevond  these  ring's,  other 
vast  belts  of  stars,  enclosing  the  fixed  stars  of  our 
system,  cannot  be  satisfactorily  determined.  "  The 
position  of  our  sun  is  such,"  according  to  the  view 
of  Madler  (page  417),  "  that  perspectively  no  other 
than  the  division  above  mentioned  is  possible." 
That  still  further  astral  rings  do  really  exist,  is  by 
no  means  impossible.  At  least,  the  fact  that  the 
most  powerful  instruments  still  reveal  faint  clouds 
of  light  incapable  of  being  resolved  into  stars,  per- 
haps from  their  extreme  remoteness  alone,  would 
seem  to  fiivor  this  view.  "  But  even  assumino:  that 
another  series  of  rings  concentrically  arranged,  were 


356  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

concealed  by  tlie  outer  of  the  two  rings  known  to 
us,  we  cannot  certainly  regard  the  series  as  without 
end.  For,  as  has  been  shown  by  Gibers^  were  the 
plane  of  these  stellar  rings  extended  without  bound, 
it  would  be  discovered  by  the  naked  eye,  "in  the 
form  of  a  bright  line  in  the  centre  of  the  Milky 
AVay,  and  traversing  it  longitudinally.  And  this  is 
so,  just  as  in  general  it  is  true,  according  to  the  well- 
grounded  remark  of  different  astronomers,  that  were 
the  starry  heavens  everywhere  extended  to  infinity, 
every  point  in  the  nocturnal  heavens  would  shine 
with  the  light  of  the  sun  and  the  brightness  of  day, 
so  that  there  would  really  be  no  longer  any  distinc- 
tion to  the  eye  between  night  and  day."  (Schubert, 
Weltgeb,  p.  24).  It  has  been  repeatedly  afiirmed  by 
the  younger  Herschel,  that  in  many  points  of  the 
Milky  Way  the  cloud-like,  glimmering  light. can  be 
so  completely  resolved,  that  we  behold  the  dark 
back-ground  of  the  deep,  starless  heavens,  lying 
beyond.  (Compare  Humboldt,  Kosm.  III.  188,  213). 
It  is  not  improbable  that  the  concourse  of  stars, 
also,  within  the  rings  which  compose  the  Milky  Way, 
is  made  up  of  layers  of  stars,  having  an  annular  dis- 
position in  a  common  plane,  and  separated  by  star- 
less spaces  traversed  here  and  there  by  arms  uniting 
the  various  rings.  But  the  difficulty  of  determining 
the  number  and  form  of  these  supposed  rings  must 
be  almost  insuperable,  on  account  of  their  proximity 
to  us.  But  this  much  Mddler  holds  (p.  417)  as 
established  beyond  dispute,  that  whether  the  inner 
regions  of  the  fixed  stars  are  disposed  in  layers  or 
rings,  or  whether  it  be  otherwise,  the  space  filled  by 


TnE     CENTRAL     SUN.  357 

these  stars  is  certainly  not  of  a  spherical  form.  The 
outer  parts  of  these  inner  regions  do  indeed  evince 
a  somewhat  annular  form,  for  here  the  stars  of  from 
the  7th  to  the  11th  magnitude  are  unusually  numer- 
ous, both  upon  the  Milky  "Way  and  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  its  boundaries.  This  stellar  rins;  when 
viewed  with  the  naked  eye,  must,  consequently, 
pretty  nearly  coincide  with  the  Milky  "Way ;  but  a 
telescope  of  only  moderate  powers,  and  one  that 
fails  of  resolving  the  Milky  Way  proper,  is  fully 
capable  of  revealing  to  us  the  individual  stars  that 
compose  it. 

§  9.    The  Central  Sun,' 

Ever  since  Bradley's  time  (the  middle  of  the  last 
century)  the  conviction  has  been  growing  in  the 
minds  of  astronomers,  that  the  so-called  fixed  stars, 
together  with  our  sun,  are  by  no  means  really  sta- 
tionary stars,  but  that  they  all  have  a  proper  and  real 
motion  of  their  owai. 

The  bold  and  wide-spread  creations  of  poetic 
genius  in  regard  to  a  vast  and  all-controlling  central 
sun,  which  enchained  the  millions  of  other  suns  to 
itself,  and  caused  them  to  revolve  around  it  in  un- 
swerving obedience,  through  the  might  of  its  pre- 
ponderating gravity,'"^  seemed  in  this  grand  discovery 

*  Compare  Madler,  die  Centralsonne,  Dorpat,  1846 ;  Unter- 
sucliungen  der  Fixsternsysteme,  Mitau,  1847 ;  Pop.  Asir.  4th  ed., 
p.  404  seqq. 

2  The  occasion  of  this  fanciful  supposition  was  furnished  by  the 
attempt  to  transfer  the  rehitions  and  arrangements  of  our  solar 
system  bodily  into  the  regions  of  the  fixed  stars,  of  which  we 
shall   say  more   hereafter.      Since  moons  here   revolved  round 


358  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

to  have  attained  a  scientific  basis.  But  there  was 
needed  onl}^  a  closer  investigation  of  the  proper  mo- 
tion of  the  fixed  stars,  to  show  how  inadmissible  this 
view  was,  however  confidently  it  had  obtruded  itself 
upon  the  world. 

Of  all  the  fixed  stars,  none  seemed  to  have  such 
just  claims  to  this  high  and  sovereign  prerogative  in 
the  universe,  as  Sirius,  a  sun  surpassing  all  others  in 
brilliancy.  "But  Argelander  has  well  remarked 
that  Sirius  cannot  be  the  central  sphere,  since  it  itself 
has  a  proper  and  very  observable  motion  through, 
space.  ...  If  there  exists  anywhere,  visible  or  invisi- 
ble, one  grand  central  body,  out-balancing  and  con- 
trolling all  others  through  a  preponderance  of  gravity, 
the  most  rapid  general  movement  must  take  place 
in  the  region  of  that  body.  And  as  we  behold  fixed 
stars  in  all  directions,  it  is  clear  that  in  some  one 
point  the  whirl  of  movements  must  be  most  conspi- 
cuous, and  from  there  the  rate  of  motion  sufier  a 
constant  decrease.  But  nowhere  in  the  heavens  is 
such  a  point  to  be  found  —  no  one  of  the  stars  of  the 
first  magnitude  fulfils  the  condition  here  imposed." 
(Miidler,  Qentralsonne,  p.  4,  5.) 

These  and  similar  considerations  led  Miidler  to  the 
final  result,  "that  no  such  single  preponderating  cen- 
tral mass  is  to  be  looked  for  in  the  starry  heave7is,  as 
there  is  none  such  in  existence.'' 

In  this  state  of  afifairs  astronomers  inclined  to  the 
view,  "that  the  movements  noticed  in    connection 

planets,  and  planets  with  these  about  the  sun,  it  was  thought  that 
all  suns  in  like  manner  must  be  moving  round  a  vast  central  body 
of  equally  preponderating  gravity. 


THE    CENTRAL     SUN.  359 

with  special  stars,  were  occasioned  merely  or  cliieily 
by  the  mutual  influences  of  the  stars  in  closest  proxi- 
mity to  each  other."  But  still  this  view  could  not 
be  made  to  account  for  the  data  supplied  by  observa- 
tion and  calculation. 

It  was  left  to  the  deep  sagacity  and  untiring  dili- 
gence of  Mddler^  after  six  years'  uninterrupted  in- 
vestigation and  thorough-going  examination  and 
comparison  of  all  previous  data  as  to  the  progressive 
movement  of  the  fixed  stars  in  the  heavens,  to  arrive 
at  a  result  no  less  simple  than  surprising,  which 
promises  at  length  to  explain  to  us  the  mysterious 
movements  in  the  heavens  of  the  fixed  stars,  and  the 
w^onderful  harmony  in  the  construction  of  the  uni- 
verse, or  at  least  to  point  out  the  way  to  such  a 
result.^ 

'  It  is  indeed  true  that  many  of  the  leading  astronomers  have  thus 
far  refrained  from  direct  assent  to  the  hypothesis  of  Mddler  ;  and 
a  few  have  been  free  to  express  their  great  doubts  as  to  its  correct- 
ness (as  Peters  in  the  Astron.  Nachricliten,  1849,  p.  661,  and  /. 
HerscheVs  Outlines  of  Astronomy,  3d  ed.,  p.  589).  Lamont,  how- 
ever, expresses  himself  in  favor  of  it.  Alex,  von  Humboldt  (Kosm. 
3,  p.  283),  withholds  his  opinion.  But  G.  H.  von  Schubert,  on  the 
other  hand,  has  eagerly  laid  hold  of  Mildler's  idea,  and  incorpo- 
rated it  in  his  ingenious  work,  Das  Weltgebdude  (p.  27  seqq.).  It 
is  true,  as  we  readily  admit,  that  IMadler's  grounds  are  still  de- 
fective, and  his  view  far  from  being  incontestably  established  as 
yet.  In  order  to  arrive  at  a  result  in  all  respects  conclusive,  there 
is  demanded  the  continued  observation  of  centuries,  and  in  con- 
nection with  a  much  larger  number  of  stars  than  has  heretofore 
been  the  case.  But  the  care  and  the  close  scrutiny  with  which  he 
received  the  observations  of  his  predecessors,  as  well  as  increased 
them  by  his  own  efforts,  and  also  the  harmonious  result  obtained 
by  a  combination  of  the  two,  seem  to  lend  to  the  conclusions  of 
the  sagacious  and  untiring  astronomer  the  character  of  great  pro- 


360  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

If  the  assumed  centre  of  the  world  of  the  fixed 
stars,  to  which  all  their  movements  are  to  be 
referred,  cannot  be  a  body  controlling  all  others  by 
the  might  of  its  preponderating  gravity,  it  by  no 
means  follows  that  no  common  centre  exists, 
around  wdiich  stars  and  systems  of  Milky  Ways  re- 
volve. Though  it  be  not  the  amazing  gravitating 
force  of  one  huge  central  body  that  induces  the 
movements  of  all  the  stars,  it  may  doubtless  be  the 
gravitating  influence  of  one  star  upon  another,  and 
of  all  upon  all,  which  causes  the  wdiole  to  revolve 
about  a  common  central  point ;  and  this  centre  may 
just  as  well  be  assumed  to  be  an  empty  space,  as  one 
filled  by  a  body,  wdiich  body,  too,  might  be  one  of 
the  smallest  dimensions.  For  as  each  body  of  the 
system  of  our  world  is  attracted  by  all  the  others 
belonging  to  the  same  system,  it  is  not  conceivable 
that  the  whole  should  move  with  respect  to  any  par- 
ticular member  of  the  system,  but  rather,  that  it 
should  take  a  course  which  would  satisfy  all  alike. 
Thus  there  would  necessarily  arise  a  common  move- 
ment of  all  about  a  common  centre  (be  that  an  empty 
space,  or  filled  with  a  body),  and  the  position  of  that 
centre  w^ould  depend  upon  the  original  disposition 
and  arrangement  of  the  stellar  worlds. 

If  it  be  true  that  the  countless  stars  of  our  system 
suspended  in  space,  afffect  each  other  in  inverse  pro- 
bability, and  warrant  the  hope  that  they  will  derive  new  support 
from  future  observations.  At  all  events,  he  has  the  merit  of  hav- 
ing given  astronomical  investigation  a  new  and  powerful  impulse, 
and  of  having  marked  out  a  path  fur  it,  the  following  of  which, 
even  though  opposite  results  should  be  obtained,  will  signally  ad- 
vance the  problem  of  the  heavens  towards  its  final  solution. 


THE     CENTRAL    SUN.  361 

portion  to  the  square  of  their  distance,  according  to 
the    common    and  general  law  of  gravity;    if,  fur- 
ther,  these    countless  attractive   forces  of  all  upon 
all,  resolve  themselves  into  a  harmonious  movement 
about  a  common  centre,  just  as  a  thousand  diiFerent 
tones  unite  to  form  one  grand  and  swelling  accord, 
—  then  is  the  case  just  the  reverse   of  that  which 
takes  place  in  the  movements  of  our  solar  system. 
Here  we  behold  a  huge  central  sphere,  out-balancing 
700  times  the  united  weight  of  all  the  other  bodies 
of  the  system,  and    excluding  the  possibility  of  a 
general  and  harmonious  movement  about  a  common 
empty  space  or  centre ;  here  we  behold  the  several 
bodies  composing  the  system  led  like  vassals  round 
the  all-controlling  sun,  these  carried  along  with  a 
more  rapid  movement  as  they  approach  their  lord, 
those  at  a  distance  moving  more  or  less  deliberately 
according  to  the  increase  or  decrease  of  solar  attrac- 
tion.    But  there,  on  the  other  hand,  the  case  must 
be  reversed ;  with  an  increase  of  distance  from  the 
empty  central  space  there  must  be  an  increase  of 
movement  also,  so  that  the  time  of  revolution  must 
in  all  the  fixed  stars  be  about  the  same.     If  we  sup- 
pose, for  example,  a  certain  number  of  concentric 
rings  to  be  formed  by  the  substance  of  the  earth, 
from  the  equator  to  the  earth's  centre,  it  is  plain  that 
the  atoms  composing  the  rings  nearest  the  centre 
must  have  a  slower,  and  those  of  the  more  distant 
rings  a  more  rapid  movement  about  the  common 
centre. 

If  now  these  be  indeed  the  laws  according  to  which 
the  movements  of  our  stelli:^r  worlds  come  to  pass, 


362  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

it  is  clear  that  stars  diametrically  opposed  to  each 
otlier  must  have  opposite  movements.  As  in  a  rota- 
ting wheel  the  spokes  of  one  side  have  a  motion 
from  right  to  left,  and  those  of  the  other  a  motion 
from  left  to  right,  so  also  in  the  great  wheel  of  the 
fixed  stars  whose  circumference  is  represented  by  the 
Milky  Way,  the  stars  of  one  side  must  proceed  from 
north  to  west,  and  those  of  the  other  from  south  to 
east ; — and  of  all  known  means  this  law,  next  to  the 
one  above-mentioned  that  refers  the  more  rapid 
motion  to  the  greater  distance  from  the  grand  centre 
(and  the  reverse),  is  best  calculated  to  point  out  to 
us  the  central  point  for  wdiich  we  are  seeking,  if 
there  be  any  such  in  existence,  to  which  the  move- 
ments of  the  stars  are  to  be  referred.  Further  in- 
vestigation may  have  something  to  go  upon,  if  it  can 
be  determined  with  reasonable  accuracy  in  what 
direction  the  supposed  centre  lies,  since  the  dynamic 
centre  of  the  s^'stem  of  the  fixed  stars  cannot  in  all 
probability  vary  much  from  the  mathematical  centre 
of  the  same.  Just  at  this  point  the  two-fold  excentric 
position  of  our  sun  comes  to  our  aid.  We  have 
already  learned  (§  8)  that  a  point  lying  nearer  the  con- 
stellation of  the  Scorpion  than  any  other  part  of  the 
Milky  Way,  and  on  the  side  of  the  autumnal  equinox, 
marks  the  position  of  our  sun  in  relation  to  the  cen- 
tral point.  "  Consequently,  in  order  from  the  posi- 
tion w^e  hold  to  arrive  at  this  central  point,  the  eye 
must  be  directed  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  heavens, 
and  in  the  direction  of  a  line  leading  from  the  region 
of  the  vernal  equinoctial  point  to  the  Milky- AVay 
about  the  coiistellation  Taurus."  (Miidler,  2?op.  Astr. 
p.  402.) 


THE     CENTRAL    SUN.  363 

Mddler  at  lengtli,  after  the  most  careful  and 
thorough  measurements,  comparisons  and  calcula- 
tions, with  the  use  of  all  the  data  furnished  b}^  pre- 
vious investigators,-  arrived  at  this  result,  which  fully 
harmonizes  both  with  these  data  and  the  laws  above 
mentioned :  that  the  long  sought  for  point  lies  in  the 
.  beautiful  and  brilliant  constellation  of  the  Pleiades 
(or  seven  stars),  and  probably,  too,  near  by  or  in  the 
brightest  star  of  this  group,  Alcyone. 

"  /  lience  regard,'"  he  says  at  the  close  of  his  inves- 
tigations [Centralsonne,  p.  44),  '^the  Pleiades  as  the 
central  group  of  the  vjhole  system  of  the  fixed  stars, 
even  to  its  outer  limits  marked  by  the  3Iilky  Way,  and 
Alcyone  that  star  of  all  those  comjjosing  the  group,  which 
is  favored  hy  most  of  the  pr  oh  abilities  as  being  the  true 
centred  sun."  But  at  the  same  time  he  remarks,  that 
iu  consequence  of  a  change  in  the  constellations  in 
the  course  of  ages,  the  centre  of  gravity  belonging  to 
the  system  of  the  fixed  stars  may  pass  from  Alcyone 
for  awhile,  and  perhaps  to  some  neighboring  star.'-^ 

'  A  careful  catalogue  of  3222  star-positions  was  left  behind  by 
Bradley.  Renewed  measurements  of  the  same  stars  —  after  the 
interval  of  almost  a  whole  century  —  must  go  far  towards  deter- 
mining their  motion.  Mlidler  applied  this  in  the  cases  of  more 
than  800  stars  which  seemed  specially  to  serve  his  object.  Also 
Bessel's  manifold  and  highly-careful  observations  in  regard  to  73 
stars  of  the  Pleiades,  11  of  which  had  been  before  closely  scruti- 
nized by  Bradley,  were  very  opportune  and  serviceable. 

2  Schubert  says  of  the  Seven  Stars  (  Weltgcb.  p.  27) :  "A  group 
of  stars  alone  in  their  kind  is  to  be  observed  in  the  heavens,  not 
far  distant  from  the  vernal  equinoctial  point  —  a  group  which 
from  the  earliest  times  has  specially  attracted  the  attention  of 
man.  This  is  the  cluster  called  the  Pleiades.  Alcyone,  a  star 
of  comparatively  large  magnitude,  stands  there,  surrounded  by 


364  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

It  IS  clear  from  the  foregoing,  that  neither  the  group 
of  the  Pleiades  nor  tlie  star  Alcyone  holds  such  a 
conspicuous  position  in  the  system  of  worlds,  from 
the  possession  of  a  higher  essential  dignity  than  the 
other  stars,  —  that  the  ground  of  this  their  distin- 
guished position  does  not  lie  in  themselves,  in  their 
nature  and  individuality,  hut  merely  in  their  acci- 
dental situation,  if  the  expression  may  be  allowed. 
And  as  the  question  here  is  not  in  regard  to  a  body, 
hut  to  a  place  in  the  universe,  whether  that  place  be 
occupied  by  a  body  or  not,  the  fond  application  of 
the  term  central  sun  to  Alcyone,  by  the  discoverer, 
is  not  exactly  a  fitting  one,  and  is  much  exposed  to 
misapprehension  by  the  uninformed. 

five  others,  which  may  be  fairly  distinguished  by  the  naked  eye. 
In  regard  to  these  six  stars,  John  Michel,  of  England,  has  shown 
that  they  must  constitute  a  physically  connected  whole,  the  proba- 
bilities against  their  close  juxtaposition  arising  from  accident  or 
optical  illusion  being  in  the  ratio  of  500,000  to  1.  The  peculiar 
lustre  of  this  group  does  not,  however,  depend  merely  upon  the 
six  stars  visible  to  the  naked  eye ;  but  also  arises  from  a  whole 
cluster  of  stars  which  are  brought  into  view  by  means  of  the  tele- 
scope. As  in  the  case  of  the  double  and  multiple  stars  a  common 
centre  of  gravity  must  exist,  so  also  in  this  cluster  there  must  be 
a  common  point  about  which  they  move ;  and  if  this  be  not  in 
Alcyone,  very  probably  it  is  not  far  distant  from  that  star.  But 
it  is  only  from  the  closely-crowded  relation  of  all  the  members  of 
this  group,  that  its  point  of  gravity  can  derive  significance  as  the 
grand  centre  of  the  whole  astral  system.  According  to  the  3om- 
putations  of  Madler,  all  these  bodies  are  collected  and  compressed 
into  a  space  not  amounting  in  diameter  to  four  times  the  distance 
from  our  sun  to  the  nearest  fixed  star.  It  is  not  the  single  stars 
of  the  group,  however,  but  rather  the  collected  might  of  the  whole, 
which  lends  to  this  cluster  the  character  of  a  connecting  bond  or 
foundation-stone  for  the  whole  structure  of  the  heavens. 


THE    CENTRAL    SUN.  3G5 

Mddler  also  made  au  attempt  to  determine  the 
parallax  of  Alcyone,  from  a  sagacions  application  of 
facts  founded  upon  the  known  parallax  of  the  star 
61  Cygni.  {Pop,  Astr.  p.  427).  The  result  attained 
was  a  parallax  of  0'',006533,  according  to  which 
Alcyone  is  removed  from  us  31J  million  times  the 
distance  of  the  sun,  a  distance  requiring  498  years 
for  lio'ht  to  traverse.  —  Our  sun  in  its  course  ahout 
Alcyone,  moves  at  the  rate  of  8  geographical  miles 
in  a  second,  and  requires  18J  millions  of  years  to 
complete  one  revolution. 

E'otwithstanding  the  amazing  distance  to  which 
our  sun  is  removed  from  the  true  centre  of  the  system 
to  which  it  belongs,  "we  still  hold  a  position,"  as 
Schubert  says,  "deep  w^ithin  and  proportionabljMiear 
the  centre  of  the  vast  circle  bounded  by  the  rings  of 
the  Milky  Way  as  walls  of  light." 

We  shall  close  this  discussion  bv  2:ivino:  Madler's 

I/O  o 

view  of  the  arrangement  of  the  whole  stellar  system, 
as  deduced  from  these  his  observations  and  disco- 
veries. He  says :  ^  The  starry  girdle  of  the  Milky 
Wa}'  probably  consists  of  two  broad  concentric  rings, 
which  at  their  most  distant  point  from  us  perspectively 
coincide,  and  in  most  part  cover  each  other;  but  at 
their  nearest  point,  on  the  other  hand,  form  such  an 
angle  with  each  other  as  to  leave  an  open  space 
where  they  appear  separated.  Since  now  the  inner 
and  pretty  w^ell  defined  limits  of  the  Milky  Way, 
indicate  that  it  is  separated  from  the  hosts  of  fixed 
stars  it  encloses,  though  that  separation  be  not  a 
complete  one,  and  since,  on  the  other  hand,  in  the 

'  Ccnirahonnc,  p.  40  seq. ;  Fo2).  A.^lr.  415  scqq. 

31* 


366  ASTRONOMICAL     FACTS. 

neigliborhood  of  the  Pleiades  particularly,  a  quite 
observable  starless  space  exists,  we  may  imagine  the 
whole  constitution  of  the  system  of  the  fixed  stars 
to  be  as  follows  :  The  centre  of  this  system  is  marked 
by  a  group  very  rich  in  stars  closely  crow^led  together, 
and  contains  single  masses  of  considerable  size. 
Around  this  there  extends  a  vast  zone  proportion- 
ably  devoid-  of  stars,  having  a  diameter  somewhat 
over  six  times  that  of  the  central  system.  This  is 
succeeded  by  a  broad  annular  stratum,  teeming  with 
stars,  which  is  again  followed  by  an  interspace  con- 
taining but  few  stars,  and  so  on  for  an  indefinite 
series  of  starry  strata  and  partially  empty  zones, 
until  we  at  last  arrive  at  the  two  outer  rings  compos- 
ing the  Milky  Way.  These  vast  rings  are  not  equally 
well  developed  in  all  their  parts,  but  exhibit  here  and 
there  a  tendency  to  resolve  themselves  into  groups 
and  clusters,  though  they  are  chiefly  made  up  of 
isolated  and  double  fixed  stars.  They  are  connected 
at  various  points  by  starry  formations  which  traverse 
the  empty  interspaces  and  bind  the  rings  together. 

§  10.    Variahility  of  the  Fixed  Stars. 

We  have  ever  been  accustomed  to  connect  with 
the  heavens  of  the  fixed  stars  the  ideas  of  immuta- 
bility and  sameness.  But  modern  astronomy  has 
revealed  to  us  an  exceedingly  rich  variety  of  cos- 
mical  formations,  groupings  and  movements  in  those 
same  heavens,  as  well  as  the  circumstance  that 
changes  and  transformations  take  place  in  connec- 
tion with  many  of  their  stars,  to  which  the  facts  of 
our  solar  s^^stem  furnish  no  analogy. 


VARIABILITY   OF   THE   FIXED    STARS.        3G7 

If  it  be  true  that  we  can  observe  changes  in  bodies 
which  notwithstanding  their  overwhelming  magni- 
tude appear  as  mere  points  of  light  through  the  best 
of  telescopes,  those  changes  must  certainly  be  so 
mighty,  grand,  significant  and  influential,  so  compre- 
hensive and  complete,  that  none  of  the  changes  or 
revolutions  with  which  we  are  conversant  in  our 
domain  of  life  are  worthy  to  be  compared  with  them. 

Of  all  the  changes  experienced  by  the  fixed  stars, 
we  can  detect  only  those  which  affect  their  light. 
All  else  that  there  takes  place  must  for  ever  remain 
hidden  from  mortal  eye.  Their  light  alone,  which 
traverses  with  the  rapidity  of  thought  the  immea- 
surable spaces  of  the  universe,  reaches  our  eye  only 
after  years  of  travel,  and  its  changes  alone  can  make 
known  to  us  the  cosmical  changes  which  are  there 
experienced. 

These  are  revealed  in  part  by  a  variation  in  the  color 
of  the  light,  but  chiefly  in  an  increased  or  decreased 
intensity  of  their  light,  which  in  the  same  star  swells 
now  to  the  brightness  of  Sirius,  and  then  fades  away, 
down  to  the  light  of  a  star  of  the  lowest  magnitude, 
or  dies  away  entirely. 

In  regard  to  a  change  in  color,  that  is  mostly  ob- 
served in  connection  with  the  double  stars  (§  11), 
where  it  generally  occurs  periodically^  But  it  may 
take  place  in  single  stars  oftener  indeed  than  has 
yet  been  detected  by  observation.  The  ancients 
describe  the  color  of  Sirius  as  red,  while  this  star  at 
present  shines  with  the  purest  white  light. 

As  to  the  physical  cause  of  this  variation  in  color, 
science  has  not  thus  far  been  able  even  to  conjecture. 


368  AST  Pv  GNOMICAL    FACTS. 

Much  more  significant,  however,  is  the  change  in 
strength  of  light,  which  has  heen  observed  in  not  a 
few  stars  (which  hence  are  called  Variable  Stars), 
and  which  is  peculiarly  fitted  to  give  us  an  intima- 
tion of  the  great  variety  and  peculiarities  of  the  laws 
of  life  and  movement  which  obtain  in  the  celestial 
regions.  There  has  been  observed  with  respect  to 
more  than  thirty  stars,  a  more  or  less  strongly  marked 
increase  and  decrease  of  brilliancy  (or  apparent 
magnitude),  which  mostly  recurs  periodically.  The 
two  most  remarkable  stars  in  this  respect,  are  Algol, 
in  the  head  of  Medusa,  and  Mira  (so-called  on  ac- 
count of  this  singular  characteristic),  in  the  Whale. 
Mira  attains  its  state  of  greatest  brilliancy  12  times 
in  11  years,  while  the  period  of  Algol  is  only  2  days, 
20  hours  and  49  minutes.  ''  With  respect  to  most 
of  these  stars,  however,  the  variation  observed  in 
them  is  itself  subject  to  variation.  The  process  of 
increase  and  decrease  in  brightness,  the  period  itself, 
and  the  maximum  and  minimum  brilliancy,  are  all 
subject  to  change.  Specially  worthy  of  note  is  the 
fact  that  in  most  cases  the  increase  in  brilliancy  is 
more  rapid  than  the  decrease,  and  that  all  these 
stars,  with  the  exception  of  Algol,  remain  a  longer 
time  at  their  minimum,  or  near  that  condition,  than 
they  do  at  their  maximum."     3Iadler,  p.  440. 

Various  methods  have  been  tried  to  account  for 
this  strange  phenomenon.  One  of  the  first  was  the 
assumption  of  a  dark,  invisible  bod}^  revolving  about 
the  bright  body  of  the  star  in  the  given  period,  and 
covering  its  disc  in  part,  just  as  in  an  eclipse  of  the 
sun  by  our  moon.     But,  however  well  this  seemed 


VARIABILITY    OP   THE    FIXED    STARS.        3G9 

to  account  for  the  striking  phenomenon,  it  was  open 
to  many  objections.  Says  Schubert:'  ^'A  dark 
planetary  body,  which  in  passing  over  the  disc  of 
our  sun  should  so  darken  it,  that  the  obscuration 
would  be  as  obvious  in  the  regions  of  the  fixed  stars, 
at  a  distance  of  billions  of  miles,  as  the  variations  in 
the  light  of  Algol  are  to  us,  must  be  of  sach  enor- 
mous bulk  and  so  close  to  the  sun,  that,  according  to 
the  mean  proportion  existing  between  the  bodies 
composing  our  system,  its  revolution  must  be  com- 
pleted once  in  less  than  14  hours.  But  the  period  of 
revolution  in  the  supposed  dark  body  must  be  about 
five  times  that  length,  which  would  lead  us  to  infer 
a  density  in  the  region  of  Algol  25  times  less  than 
exists  in  our  system."  Besides,  the  fact  that  the  in- 
crease of  brilliancy  is  much  more  rapid  than  the 
decrease,  could  not  w^ell  be  harmonized  with  this 
hypothesis. 

Another  attempted  explanation  would  find  the 
cause  of  the  periodic  variation  of  light,  in  the  star's 
rotation  upon  its  axis,  so  that  (in  a  similar  manner, 
but  in  an  incomparably  greater  degree  than  occurs 
in  connection  with  the  solar  spots  and  facules  of  our 
central  sphere,)  a-t  one  time  its  brightest  side  must 
be  turned  towards  us,  and  this  be  then  succeeded  by 
the  side  less  intensely  lighted.  But  this  theory  also 
meets  with  many  difiiculties,  such  as  the  one  before 
mentioned,  that  the  increase  of  light  in  almost  all 
the  variable  stars  is  more  rapid  than  its  decrease,  and 
that  the  amount  of  increase  and  decrease  is  not  the 
same  in  every  recurring  period. 

»  Kahuiehr,  p.  99. 


370  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

"  A  third  liypotliesis  supposes  the  form  of  the  star 
in  question  to  be  flat  or  lenticular,  so  that  in  rotating 
the  edge  and  broad  side  of  the  star  are  in  turn 
directed  towards  us."  But  such  an  unusual  rotation 
would  contradict  the  laws  of  gravitation  which  every 
where  obtain,  and  still  not  account  for  the  irregular- 
ity in  the  periodicity  of  the  star's  variation. 

This  remarkable  phenomenon,  appears  most  satis- 
factorily accounted  for,  upon  the  assumption  that  the 
stars  to  wdiich  it  belongs  are  subject  to  a  periodic,  hut 
varying  increase  and  decrease  in  their  development  of 
light,  grounded  in  the  constitution  of  the  stars  them- 
selves. "  The  increase  and  decrease  of  their  bril- 
liancy," says  Schubert  (Weltgeb.  p.  64),  "reminds  us 
of  the  recurrence  of  days  and  seasons  with  us ;  but 
with  this  distinction,  that  in  our  system  these  changes 
are  caused  by  the  influence  of  the  sun  upon  the 
planets,  while  with  respect  to  the  stars  the  cause 
probably  lies  in  their  OAvn  constitution.  The  changes 
we  here  experience  from  the  higher  to  the  lower 
grades  of  warmth,  from  morning  to  noon,  to  night, 
and  to  mid-night,  or  from  winter  to  spring,  summer 
and  autumn,  are,  in  the  variable  stars,  the  changes 
from  the  lowest  stage  of  brightness  to  the  medium, 
and  then  to  the  highest,  with  a  return  again  to  the 
medium,  and  finally  to  the  lowest.  Spring  frequently 
comes  earlier,  the  summer  is  hotter  and  longer,  and 
the  winter  milder  than  in  other  years,  where  the  op- 
posite of  this  takes  place.  So  in  most  of  the  variable 
stars,  the  changes  are  more  or  less  marked,  and  the 
different  steps  of  their  progress  of  varying  length." 

In  addition  to  those  stars  which  at  their  lowest 


VARIABILITY   OF   THE   FIXED    STARS.  871 

stage  of  briglitiiess  still  remain  visible,  tlioiigli  it  be 
only  with  the  aid  of  a  telescope,  there  are  others  (as 
those  in  Sagittarius,  Cj'gnus  and  Leo,)  which  have 
for  ages  appeared  visible  at  periodic  intervals  of 
many  years,  becoming  again  totally  invisible  after 
each  appearance.  Perhaps  to  this  catalogue  belong 
the  JTew  Stars,  which  have  been  repeatedly  observed, 
appearing  suddenly  with  the  greatest  brightness,  and 
which  after  shining  awhile,  have  gradually  died 
away  until  they  have  utterly  vanished,  becoming 
Lost  Stars.  Humboldt  {Kosm.  p.  220,)  mentions  21 
such  stars,  and  Madler  has  added  to  this  catalogue 
one  which  was  visible  for  a  short  time  in  January 
1850,  in  the  constellation  Orion. 

Hipparclius,  so  early  as  the  year  125,  B.  C,  obser- 
ved such  a  phenomenon.  In  A.  D.  389,  a  new  star 
broke  forth  near  the  star  Altair  of  the  Eagle,  so  bright, 
that  for  three  weeks  it  equalled Yenus  in  brilliancy; 
but  in  a  short  time  it  vanished  completely.  In  like 
manner,  a  large  new  star  appeared  repeatedly  in  the 
years  945,  1264,  and  1572,  on  the  borders  of  Cassio- 
peia.' Tycho  de  Brahe  closely  observed  the  last  ap- 
pearance. In  the  course  of  a  few  minutes  the  star 
kindled  up  to  the  brightness  of  Sirius,  in  a  month's 
time  began  to  fade,  and  at  the  end  of  a  year  and  a 
half  had  totally  vanished.  A  similar  star  appeared 
five  times  (in  the  year  134,  B.  C,  and  in  A.  D.  393, 
827,  1203  and  1584,)  in  the  Scorpion. 

Are  we  to  suppose  that  we  have,  in  these  instances, 
examples  of  stars  really  newly  formed,  and  soon 
thereupon  vanishing  into  nothing  from  whence  they 
seemed  to  come  ?     Such  an  assumption  lacks  proba- 


oiZ  ASTRONOMICAL     FACTS. 

bility,  and  is  assuredly  not  in  accordance  with  tlie 
analogy  of  the  heavens.  As  the  years  945, 12G4,  and 
1572,  are  separated  by  about  equal  intervals  of  time, 
it  has  been  conjectured  that  the  star  observed  by 
Tycho  may  be  one  recurring  periodically,  about 
every  300  years,  from  a  sudden  kindling  up  of  its 
surface,  dependent  upon  some  inner  unknown  cause ; 
the  star  after  that,  gradually  so  diminishing  in  bright- 
ness as  to  remain  hidden  from  view  for  300  years 
again.  The  close  of  the  present  century^will  prove 
wdiether  this  conjecture  be  well-grounded  or  not. 
The  same  reasons  may  lead  us  to  believe  the  appear- 
ance of  new  stars  in  the  Scorpion  to  be  periodic  in 
its  occurrence.  That  the  sudden  kindling  up  and 
subsequent  dying  out  of  these  stars,  is  dependent 
neither  upon  the  manner  of  their  rotation,  nor  upon 
the  intervention  of  a  dark  body  between  them  and 
us,  is  obvious  enough  to  every  mind.  The  conjec- 
ture possessing  most  probability,  is  that  one  which 
supposes  the  stars  in  question  to  be  dark  bodies  in 
themselves,  which  periodically  or  at  irregular  inter- 
vals, and  through  a  native,  independent  action,  or 
from  excitement  from  without— perhaps  through  the 
medium  of  a  magneto-electric  process — are' brought 
into  such  a  glow  or  intense  excitement,  that  they  for 
awhile  shine  like  stars  proper,  from  an  innate  light. 

§  11.  Double  a?id  Multiple  Stars. 

A  better  acquaintance  with  these  stars,  whose  con- 
nection wdtli  the  characteristics  of  the  heavens  is  of 
such  special  importance,  is  marking  quite  an  epoch 
in  the  history  of  astronomy.  Frequently  two  or  more 


DOUBLE    AND    MULTIPLE    STARS.         373 

stars,  mostly  of  dilferont  magnitudes,  lie  so  close 
together,  that  to  the  naked  eye  or  a  glass  of  moderate 
powers,  they  appear  as  a  single  star.  This  effect  is 
in  many  cases  dependent  on  optical  illusion  ;  but  in 
many  others,  continued  observation  has  clearly  proven 
that  the  stars  in  question  have  ii  physical  connection, 
and  circle  about  a  common  central  point  ^  in  such 
manner,  that,  if  they  be  of  equal  size  and  weight,  the 

*  We  call  this  central  point  a  common  one,  and  the  motion  of 
the  stars  about  it  a  reciprocal  one,  although  frequently  the  smaller 
moves  round  the  larger  body.  But  the  occurrence  of  the  latter 
case  does  not  destroy  the  fact  that  the  motion  is  reciprocal,  and  it 
takes  place  only  when  from  a  vast  disparity  in  size  or  weight  of 
the  bodies  concerned,  the  reciprocal  effect  is  so  unequal  that  the 
centre  of  gravity  lies  very  near  the  surface  or  within  the  larger 
body.  Our  planetary  system  supplies  a  good  example  in  this  con- 
nection. The  motion  here  is  properly  a  reciprocal  one.  Not  only 
does  the  sun  attract  the  earth,  but  also  the  earth  the  sun ;  and 
they  both  move  round  a  common  centre  of  gravity.  But  in  our 
system  the  case  is  such  that  the  attraction  of  the  earth,  yea,  the 
attraction  of  all  the  planets  and  their  satellites,  upon  the  sun, 
affect  this  huge  body  comparatively  very  little.  The  mass  of  the 
sun  is,  for  instance,  345,936  times  that  of  the  earth,  so  that  the 
common  centre  of  gravity  lies  345,936  times  closer  to  the  centre 
of  the  sun  than  to  that  of  the  earth  :  or,  as  the  semi-diameter  of 
the  earth's  orbit  amounts  to  about  95,000,000  miles,  not  more 
than  275  miles  from  the  centre  of  the  immense  body  of  the  sun, 
which  is  over  870,000  miles  in  diameter.  Were  all  the  planets 
and  satellites  belonging  to  the  system  to  take  their  positions  on 
one  side  of  the  sun,  and  there  expend  their  united  powers  of  at- 
traction, still  the  centre  of  gravity  would  lie  but  little  without  the 
body  of  this  great  all-controlling  sphere.  The  earth  and  the  moon 
furnish  another  case  in  point.  As  the  mass  of  the  moon  is  68^ 
times  less  than  that  of  the  earth,  and  its  distance  from  us  only  60 
semi-diameters  of  the  earth,  the  centre  of  gravity  still  falls  within 
the  body  of  the  earth.  "  The  true  central  point  in  a  system  is 
32 


374  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

patlis  of  tlicir  orbits  will  coincide  ;  but  if  tlicy  difler 
somewhat  in  these  respects,  as  is  frequently  the  case, 
their  orbits  will  be  marked  by  concentric  circles. 
Our  more  intimate  acquaintance  with  this  so  long 
neglected  sphere  of  celestial  life  and  movement,  is 
connected  especially  with  the  names  Herschel  and 
Struve,  names  as  conspicuous  in  the  history  of  astron- 
omy, as  are  the  stars  they  investigated  in  the  heavens. 
It  is  to  the  astonishing  activity  and  persistent  dili- 
gence of  W.  Struve,  before  all  others,  that  we  owe,  in 
connection  with  greatly  improved  instruments  in  his 
possession,  the  most  of  w^hat  has  been  accomplished 
in  this  sphere  of  research.  He  described,  in  the  year 
1827,  amid  the  almost  120,000  stars  of  from  the  first 
to  the  tenth  magnitude  visible  in  the  heavens  at 
Dorpat,  which  he  review^ed  in  2  J  years  with  his  gigan- 
tic refractor,  3112  double  stars,  of  which  only  340  had 
been  noticed  by  Herschel  the  elder.  Ten  years  later 
appeared  his  greatest  work,  under  the  title  :  "  Men- 
surce  micrometriece  stellar um  duijlicium,''  which  gives 
the  results  of  repeated  micrometrical  measurements 
of  2710  double  stars — some  hundreds  of  those  pre- 
viously catalogued  being  excluded  from  further  ex- 
amination on  account  of  the  faintness  of  the  accom- 
panying star.  Of  this  great  work,  by  the  way, 
31ddler  says :  "  It  may  be  regarded  as  the  true  basis 
of  all  present  or  future  researches  of  a  similar  kind, 
and  is  a  work  to  which,  in  the  sphere  of  physical 
astronomy,  there  is  none  other  worthy  to  be  com- 

that  point  of  gravity  about  which  all  the  connected  bodies  form- 
ing a  system  move  in  sustained  equilibrium  —  an  ideal  point,  not 
necessarily  occupied  by  any  body."  —  Madler,  Astr.  Briefe,  p.  86. 


DOUBLE    AND    MULTIPLE    STARS.         375 

pared,  either  in  regard  to  magnitude  of  labor  or  per- 
fection of  details."  Subsequently,  through  the  con- 
tinued labors  of  the  younger  Herschel,  Struve, 
Miidler  and  other  astronomers,  the  catalogue  of 
double  stars  has  been  gradually  increased  to  almost 
6000. 

In  the  above  review  of  the  heavens  by  Struve,  it 
was  found  that  every  38tli  or  39tli  star,  on  an  average, 
was  a  double  one.  He  found,  in  addition  to  the  sys- 
tems composed  of  but  two  stars,  113  triple,  9  quad- 
ruple, and  2  quintuple  stars.  The  quadruple  stars 
are  in  most  cases  composed  of  two  pairs  of  double 
stars  united.  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  in  some 
of  the  triple  stars,  not  the  larger  or  chief  star  is  the 
double  one,  but  the  smaller  or  accompanying  one ; 
somewhat  as  with  us  the  moon  revolves  about  our 
planet,  and  with  the  latter  around  the  sun,  except 
that  there,  not  only  the  planets,  but  the  moons  also, 
are  of  a  solar  nature. 

The  systems  become  still  more  complicated  as  we 
ascend  into  higher  regions.  In  the  constellation 
Cepheus  we  find  one  composed  of  4  pairs  of  stars, 
and  in  Orion,  one  of  3  pairs  bordered  so  closely  by 
one  of  4  double  stars,  that  w^e  are  led  to  conclude 
that  a  union  subsists  between  the  systems  of  these 
two  orders.  "  Such  a  union  of  astral  systems  of  a 
lower  to  a  higher,  and  this  perhaps  to  a  still  higher 
order,  may,  possibly,  form  the  transition  to  those  as- 
sembled hosts  of  celestial  w^orlds  revealed  to  us  by 
the  telescope  under  the  name  of  clusters  of  stars. 
Hundreds,  and  sometimes  thousands  of  stars,  as 
easily  separately  distinguished  through  the  telescope 


376  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

as  those  composing  the  inner  ring  of  our  astral  sys- 
tem, are  in  some  of  these  stellar  clusters  and  by  the 
bonds  of  mutual  attraction,  assembled  around  a  visi- 
ble central  star.  By  far  the  greater  number  of  these 
clusters,  as  well  as  most  of  the  double  and  multiple 
stars,  lie  in  the  Milky  Way,  or  on  its  borders.  They 
are  very  frequently  separated  from  the  crowded 
stratum  of  the  astral  ring,  by  a  dark  and  almost  star- 
less space,  as  though  they  had  drawn  themselves  to- 
gether from  the  surrounding  bed  of  stars,  leaving  a 
dark  zone  between." 

"  A  space  not  greater  than  that  which  lies  between 
our  sun  and  the  nearest  fixed  star,  there  contains, 
frequently,  hundreds  of  thousands,  yea,  perhaps  mil- 
lions of  suns ;  so  that  one  sun  cannot  in  proportion 
be  further  separated  from  another,  than  in  our  sys- 
tem a  planet  is  from  its  nearest  neighbor.  For,  if 
we  assume  in  our  computations,  that  the  moderatel}^ 
bright  stars  of  these  crowded  clusters  are  further 
removed  from  us,  we  must  also  at  the  same  time 
greatly  increase  their  supposed  individual  diameters, 
so  that  the  inexplicable  fact  of  their  close  connection 
still  remains  the  same  as  when,  with  a  less  bulk,  we 
suppose  them  to  be  nearer  at  hand." 

Highly  significant  in  connection  with  a  know- 
ledge of  the  mutual  i^elations  existing  between  the 
double  and  multiple  stars,  are  the  alternating  con- 
trasts to  be  observed  in  the  strength  of  their  light, 
and  in  the  quality  and  beauty  of  their  colors.  "  Con- 
tinued observation  has  clearly  proven  that  many  of 
them  experience  a  change  of  brightness,  which 
clearly  betrays  a  reciprocal  relation  and  influence 


DOUBLE    AND    MULTIPLE     STARS.         37T 

subsisting  between  them — such  a  relation,  that  now 
one  is  caused  to  shine  with  a  stronger  light,  and  then 

the   other The  careful  eye  of  W.  Struve 

succeeded  in  detecting  71  such  stars,  in  which  a 
penodic  variation  showed  itself  as  always  very 
probable,  and  generally  very  decided."  N"o  less  re- 
markable are  the  strong  contrasts  in  color  which 
they  exhibit.  While  one  appears  of  an  emerald 
green,  the  color  of  the  other  is  ruby  red ;  while  one 
casts  a  deep  yellow  ray,  the  other  shines  in  clearest 
blue,  and  the  like.  "  The  accompanying  star  gene- 
rally receives  the  blue  or  violet  tint,  while  the  chief 
star  appears  white,  yellow,  or  red,  less  frequently,  of 
a  greenish  tint."  That  this  phenomenon  does  not 
arise  from  optical  illusion,  as  in  the  case  of  the  so- 
called  complementary  colors,  has  been  proven  by  the 
careful  observations  of  W.  Struve.  He  repeatedly 
examined  these  stars  by  excluding  one  of  them  at  a 
time  from  the  field  of  the  telescope,  so  that  had  the 
special  color  been  merely  complementary,  it  should 
have  disappeared,  which  however  was  not  the  case. 
"The  degree  of  the  tinting  sometimes  greatly  in- 
creases in  both  stars  of  a  pair  at  the  same  time,  and 
in  evident  reciprocal  relation,  as  in  number  163  of 
Struve's  great  catalogue,  which  at  one  time,  in  the 
year  1831,  exhibited  its  chief  star  of  a  coppery  red, 
and  the  accompanying  one  of  a  bluish  cast,  and  soon 
thereafter,  the  former  of  a  rosy  red,  and  the  latter  of 
a  sapphire  blue  color." 

Tlic  most  significant  and  important  result  gained 
by  a  careful  and  laborious  examination  of  these 
double  and  multiple  stars  —  a  result  the  correctness 


378  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

of  which  is  now,  as  it  would  appear,  fully  estah- 
lished — is  the  thence  derived  fact,  that  amid  the 
spaces  of  the  lixed  stars  on  high,  the  same  laws  of 
movement  obtain  as  with  us.  The  investigations  of 
Struve  and  Madler,  for  example,  have  clearly  proven 
that  the  orbits  of  those  distant  spheres,  just  as  the 
orbits  of  bodies  belonging  to  our  system,  partake  of 
an  elliptic  form,  reminding  us  more,  however,  from 
their  great  eccentricity,  of  the  orbit  of  a  comet  than 
that  of  a  planet.  ''  The  human  mind  experiences  a 
peculiar  satisfaction  and  secret  delight,  in  learning 
that  thus  the  first  of  Kepler's  laws,  so  significant 
and  comprehensive,  silently  receives  acknowledg- 
ment so  far  amid  the  depths  of  space.  But,  also,  the 
other  laws  of  cosmical  motion  discovered  by  Kejyler, 
as  well  as  the  great  law  of  Neivton^  bear  uncontrolled 
sway  over  those  remote  worlds  ;  though  it  by  no 
means  necessarily  follows  that  attraction  of  mass 
alone  effects  the  movement,  since  magneto-electric 
attractions,  just  as  all  attractions  of  the  higher  order, 
obey  the  same  law."^ 

With  respect  to  the  two  other  laws  of  Kepler, 
which  demand  "  an  accelerated  orbital  motion  with 
a  diminution  of  distance,"  it  may  be  remarked  that 
their  sway  has  been  detected  iii  several  of  the  astral 
systems  composed  of  double  stars.  The  Newtonian 
law  also  "holds  good  in  connection  with  the  orbital 
motions  of  the  double  stars,  so  far  as  these  have  been 
learned ;  for  it  is  generally  only  in  stars  of  the  first 
(more  approximate)  order,  that  an  orbital  motion  can 
be  distinctly  observed,  which,  in  other  orders,  exhibits 

^  Schubert,  Urwdt,  p.  88. 


DARK    CODIES    IN   THE    HEAVENS.  379 

only  feeble  traces  of  its  presence ;  and  at  the  same 
time,  it  is  in  the  stars  closest  to  each  other,  that, 
according  to  the  rule,  the  greatest  velocity  of  move- 
ment should  be  observed." 


["  In  the  great  work  which  M.  Struve  has  lately  published, 
containing  the  record  of  his  labors  on  double  stars  at  Dorpat,  he 
gives,  as  the  result  of  his  careful  examination  and  comparison  of 
the  whole  body  of  facts  in  stellar  astronomy,  some  conclusions  of 
a  novel  character  respecting  the  number  and  constitution  of  the 
double,  or  multiple  stars.  lie  examines,  especially,  the  brighter 
stars — those  comprised  between  the  first  and  fourth  magnitudes — 
and  arrives  at  the  conclusion  that  every  fourth  star  of  such  stars 
in  the  heavens  is  physically  double.  lie  even  ventures  to  assert 
that  when  we  have  acquired  a  more  complete  knowledge  of  double 
stars,  it  will  be  found  that  every  third  bright  star  is  physically 
double.  Applying  these  considerations  to  the  stars  of  inferior 
orders  of  magnitude,  he  finally  arrives  at  the  following  conclusion, 
which  he  admits  to  be  of  an  unexpected  character  —  that  the 
number  of  isolated  stars  is  indeed  greater  than  the  number  of 
compound  systems ;  but  only  three  times,  perhaps,  only  twice  as 
great." — Annual  of  Scientific  Discovery,  185G,  p.  379.  —  Tr.] 

§  12.  Darh  Bodies  in  the  Heavens  of  the  Fixed  Stars} 

Beyond  the  limits  of  our  solar  system  we  behold 
none  but  self-luminous  bodies.  No  Fraueiihofer  s  re- 
fractor, no  gigantic  telescope  of  a  Herschel  or  a  Iiosse, 
shall  ever  be  able  to  discover  for  us,  whether  or  not 
there  exist  amid  the  countless  liosts  of  the  starry 
heavens,  dark  celestial  bodies,  in  addition  to  those 
resplendent  suns.  Were  such  bodies  indeed  in  exist- 
ence, and  exposed  to  the  rays  of  a  blazing  Sirius,  or 

*  Compare  Humboldt,  Eosmos,  III.,  p.  267  seqq. ;  M'adler,  NacJi- 
trdge,  p.  16  seqq. 


380  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

the  concentrated  light  which  streams  from  a  double 
or  multiple  stellar  system,  or  were  they  situated  in 
the  midst  of  some  thickly-crowded  starry  cluster, 
buried  in  a  very  sea  of  light  emanating  from  thou- 
sands of  suns,  still  the  immeasurable  distance  inter- 
vening between  them  and  us,  must  ever  prevent 
their  borrowed  rays  from  reaching  our  telescopes. 

But  that  which  the  bodily  eye  of  man  can  never 
reach,  w^ith  all  the  mighty  helps  his  invention  has 
contrived,  may,  perhaps,  still  in  time  be  disclosed, 
through  the  untiring  efibrts  of  the  human  mind^  by 
means  of  observation,  combination  and  analj^sis. 

Though  we  may  not  be  able  to  discover  those 
hypothetical  dark  bodies  by  means  of  the  influence 
exerted  upon  them  by  luminous  orbs  to  which  they 
belong,  there  is  a  plain  contrary  possibility  of  our 
being  able  to  ascertain  their  presence  by  means  of 
the  influence  they  themselves-  exert  upon  those  shining 
orbs.  This  may  result  from  either  a  partial  or  com- 
plete obscuration  of  those  bodies  at  each  j^eriodic 
revolution  of  an  invisible  sphere  about  them,  or  a 
discoverable  perturbation  in  their  orbits  caused  by 
the  gravity  of  existing  dark  bodies.  In  the  two 
cases,  the  detection  of  their  influence  must  be  dif- 
ferent, and  the  proportion  in  size  between  sun  and 
planet  must  there  be  wholly  diflerent  from  what 
it  is  here ;  for  an  observer  stationed  upon  Sirius  or 
some  other  fixed  star,  would  not,  with  the  closest 
observation,  and  under  the  most  favorable  circum- 
stances, be  able  to  discover  the  least  trace  of  an 
eclipse  of  our  sun,  or  of  the  disturbances  in  its  move- 
ments caused  by  the  planets  of  our  system.    The  effect 


DARK   BODIES    IN   THE   HEAVENS.  381 

of  gravitation  in  this  case  could  not  be  observed  in 
mere  disturbances,  but  only  when  it  was  raised  to 
such  a  pitch  that  our  sun  should,  from  a  prepon- 
derance of  mass  in  the  planetary  body  or  bodies,  be 
forced  to  assume  an  orbital  movement ;  and  a  solar 
eclipse  could  only  be  visible  when  a  dark  body  of 
full  the  sun's  size,  or  even  larger,  fairly  intervened 
between  it  and  the  distant  beholder. 

However  strange  and  contrary  to  our  notions  it 
may  be,  to  conceive  of  a  sun  being  controlled  by  the 
superior  weight  of  a  dark  body,  and  forced  to  revolve 
about  the  latter,  the  most  recent  discoveries  seem  to 
make  the  real  occurrence  of  such  a  fact  probable. 

A  paper  was  produced  in  the  year  1844  by  Bessel,^ 
a  famed  hero  of  astronomical  science,  in  which  it 
was  shown  that  two  of  the  most  brilliant  fixed  stars, 
Procyo7i  and  Sirius,  were,  besides  the  general  motion 
to  which  all  the  stars  are  subject,  participants  of  an- 
other, which,  instead  of  leading  them  in  wide  orbits, 
caused  them  to  describe  very  small,  contracted  cir- 
cles; and  that  hence  the  motion  of  these  stars  can 
be  accounted  for,  only  on  the  supposition  that  they 
revolve  about  some  point  of  gravity  near  at  hand, 
and  in  all  probability  —  as  these  are  not  double  stars 
in  the  accustomed  sense — some  central  body  which, 
however  mighty  in  mass  or  bulk,  is  invisible  to  us, 
and  consequently  must  be  a  totally  dark^  or  but 
feebly  lighted  body. 

'  Astronom.  Kachrichten,  514-51G. 

2  [This  supposition  of  Bessel's  is  acquiring  additional  support 
with  the  prosjress  of  time,  and  from  the  more  careful  observations 
of  astronomers.     Captain  Jacob,  of  the  Madras  Observatory,  a 


882  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

Bessel  was  fully  convinced  of  the  legitimacy  of  his 
conclusions,  and  so  remained.  Other  astronomers, 
as  Struve,  for  example,  doubted,  and  were  inclined 
to  refer  the  phenomenon  of  peculiar  motion  to  mis- 
taken observations.  Still  others,  as  Airi/  and  Pond, 
regarded  it  as  proceeding  from  some  variation  in  the 
proper  motion  of  the  stars  in  question.  In  the 
meantime  Ma'dler  took  a  decided  stand  with  Bessel. 
In  the  case  of  a  beautiful  double  star  in  the  Twins, 
his  observations  would  not  agree  with  the  results 
furnished  by  calculation.  Mddler  then  assumed  the 
existence  of  a  triple  system,  in  which  one  of  the 
bodies  was  invisible,  and  immediately  arrived  at  a 
satisfactory  result. 

Finally,  in  the  years  1850  and  1851,  there  were 
published  about  the  same  time,  in  the  astronomical 
journals  of  Europe  (so  says  Madler,  Naclitragen  p. 
17),  four  different  investigations,  those  of  Schuherty 
Pierce,  Peters,  and  himself,  in  regard  to  the  stars 
Spica,  Sirius,  and  Procyon.  In  regard  to  Sirius,  the 
second  of  these  stars,  Schuhert  and  Peters,  independ- 
ently of  each  other,  and  with  striking  agreement, 

year  or  two  since  made  communications  respecting  the  binary 
star,  70  Ophiuchi,  the  ex.act  orbit  of  which  is  yet  in  doubt,  al- 
though nearly  a  whole  revolution  has  been  completed  since  Sir  W. 
Ilerschel  first  discovered  the  character  and  motion  of  the  star,  in 
1779.  There  must  be  some  perturbing  cause,  as  all  the  orbits 
thus  far  computed  fail  at  certain  points  in  representing  the  ob- 
served positions.  The  facts  are  best  accounted  for  by  supposing 
the  existence  of  a  third  and  dark  body  perturbing  the  other 
two.  The  same  observer,  also,  in  a  letter  to  Prof.  Smith  of  Edin- 
burgh, dated  Jan.  26th,  1856,  conjectures  the  existence  of  a  dark 
body  in  the  vicinity  of  a  Centauri,  as  otherwise  unaccountable 
perturbations  are  observed  in  connection  with  that  star.  —  Tr.] 


DARK    BODIES    IN   THE    HEAVENS.  383 

ascribe  to  it  an  orbit  of  from  49  to  50  years  about  a 
point  2J''  distant  from  that  star.  If  the  parallax  of 
Siriiis  as  calculated  hy  Heriderson  be  assumed  as  cor- 
rect, this  point  of  gravity  must  be  occupied  by  a 
mass  of  at  least  f  the  weight  of  the  sun. 

BIddlers  investigations  in  regard  to  the  orbit  of 
Procyon  have  not  yet  been  brought  to  a  close,  but 
he  estimates  the  period  of  that  body  to  be  from  50 
to  60  years,  and  the  distance  of  the  assumed  point 
of  gravity  to  be  2  J'^  Peters,  who  more  recently  has 
turned  his  attention  also  to  Procyon,  fixes  the  period 
of  that  star  at  50,096  years,  and  the  mean  distance  of 
the  point  about  which  it  revolves  at  2^'', 56. 

Iladlcr  closes  his  remarks  thus  :  "So  far  as  rei^ards 
myself,  I  have  not  the  least  doubt,  as  the  matter  at 
present  stands,  that  Bessel  was  entirely  correct  in  his 
suppositions,  and  that  we  really  owe  the  greatest  and 
most  important  of  all  that  immortal  man's  discove- 
ries, to  the  last  evening  hours  of  his  life,  when  he 
was  hopelessly  confined  to  a  bed  of  disease  which 
he  was  never  more  to  leave." 

Thus,  then,  if  Pessel's  interpretation  of  these  phe- 
nomena be  the  correct  one,  all  possible  variations  in 
the  relations  of  the  celestial  bodies  to  each  other  in 
the  system  of  our  Milky- Way,  are  exhausted.  We 
see  dark  bodies  revolving  about  tlark  bodies  (moons 
about  planets);  further,  dark  bodies  moving  around 
shining  bodies ;  again,  suns  about  suns ;  and  finally, 
suns  also  about  dark  bodies. 

The  two  last  mentioned  forms  belong  exclusively 
to  the  world  of  the  fixed  stars  —  no  analogy  to  them 
is  to  be  found  in  our  solar  system.     Whether,  on  the 


38 1  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

other  Land,  the  two  other  forms  belong  just  as  exclu- 
sively to  our  partial  system,  or  whether  the  arrange- 
ments which  here  obtain  are  extended  into  the  ]^e- 
gions  of  the  fixed  stars  also,  is  a  problem  which  can- 
not be  satisfactorily  determined  by  astronomy  at 
present,  and  probably  never  will  be. 

But  this  much,  at  least,  astronomy  can  assert  with 
full  assurance,  that  the  view  so  fondly  advanced  by 
JFontenelle,  that  all  the  fixed  stars  were  suns  like  our 
sun,  with  solid  bodies  similar  to  it,  and  like  it,  encir- 
cled by  planets,  moons,  and  comets ;  in  short,  that 
all  in  the  universe  w^as  "tout  comme  chez  nous,"  is 
a  view  not  to  be  entertained  for  a  moment.  Modern 
science  has,  since  the  great  discoveries  of  Ilerschel, 
caught  glimpses  enough  of  the  infinite  variety  of 
formations  and  physical  relations  existing  in  the  uni- 
verse, to  force  it  to  take  a  decided  stand  against  such 
a  tedious  and  ever-recurring  monotony,  and  to  turn 
with  aversion  from  such  a  contracted  and  miserable 
theory  of  the  w^orld. 

True,  astronomy  will  not  bear  us  out  in  opposition 
to  the  view^  that  arrangements  similar  to  those  in  our 
solar  system,  mai/,  indeed,  be  found  without  the 
bounds  of  this  system,  though  not  a  single  fact  can 
be  brought  forward  in  proof  of  it.  Those  stars  which 
lie  scattered  singly  in  the  vault  of  heaven,  and  which 
may  be  supposed  the  nearest  stars  to  our  sun,  both  from 
the  intensity  of  their  light  and  a  discoverable  proper 
motion,  as  also  from  a  measurable  parallax — ^  those 
stars  lie  so  far  apart,  that  if  we  look  only  to  distance, 
there  is  room  suflicient,  as  we  are  free  to  confess,  for 
dark  bodies,  massive  as  the  planets  and  moons  of 
our  system,  to  revolve  about  them. 


DARK   BODIES    IN   THE    HEAVENS.  385 

But  on  the  other  hand,  when  we  pass  from  the 
single  to  the  double  or  multiple  stars,  the  idea  of 
transferring  the  arrangements  wiiich  prevail  with  us 
to  those  stellar  systems,  at  least  so  "nude  crude,"  as 
often  happens,  seems  so  out  of  place,  that  the  likeli- 
hood of  any  such  transference  actually  taking  place 
scarcely  retains  a  shade  of  probability  in  our  minds. 

Herschel  the  younger  went  so  far  as  to  attempt  to 
explain  "the  wondrous  influence  green  or  red,  blue 
or  yellow  light,  streaming  from  a  double  or  multiple 
star,  would  exert  upon  the  inhabitants  of  the  planets 
belonging  to  such  systems."  Sclmhert  also,  though 
not  at  all  charmed  by  a  theory  embracing  so  much 
monotony,  followed  out  this  idea  further.  "If  it  be 
true  that  they  are  suns,"  says  he  (Naturlelire,  p.  106), 
"which  give  forth  light  and  heat  in  the  same  manner 
as  our  sun,  and  which  are  carried  by  the  potent  force 
of  mutual  attraction  through  one  revolution  in  a 
time  exceeding  but  little  one  of  Saturn's  years,  if  it 
be  true  that  instead  of  two,  three,  or  four,  perhaps 
still  more  such  solar  bodies  are  in  close  connection, 
then  is  it  not  possible  that  either  night  or  winter 
should  even  occur  in  the  planetary  spheres,  lost  as  it 
were  in  such  a  whirl  of  suns,  and  no  more  could  any 
mortal  eye  possibly  endure  such  a  dazzling  sea  of 
light." 

But  though  it  were  -  even  proven  not  directly  im- 
possible that  the  orbits  of  planets  may  be  entwined 
w^ith  the  orbits  of  double  and  multiple  stars,  still  the 
favorite  "tout  comme  chez  vous  "  will  not  by  any 
means  appl}'  in  connection  Avith  them.  For  the 
double  stars  in  part  compose  systems  so  compact, 
33 


386  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

tliat  we  cannot  without  difficulty  ascribe  to  tlieni  a 
mass  of  the  bulk,  density  and  weight  of  our  sun,  and 
still  less  could  a  host  of  dark  bodies  of  the  weio-ht 
of  our  planets  and  moons,  thread  their  ways  between 
the  suns  of  these  systems,  without  endangering  the 
harmony  of  the  movement.  Further,  let  us  imagine 
all  those  thickly  crowded  hosts  of  worlds  exhibited 
to  ns  by  the  stellar  clusters,  in  all  respects  like  our 
sun,  i.  e.,  with  solid,  massive  central  bodies,  and  each 
of  them  surrounded  by  numerous  solid,  planetary 
spheres.  Were  this  really  the  case,  those  worlds 
could  never  so  peacefully  and  undisturbedly  pursue 
their  silent  and  majestic  courses  through  all  time; 
nay  rather,  overcome  by  the  domineering  force  of 
gravity,  the  supposed  planets,  moons  and  suns,  w^ould 
be  hurled  against  each  other  with  appalling  and  de- 
structive power. 

But  apart  from  the  foregoing,  there  are  many 
other  facts  which  seem  to  conflict  with  the  supposi- 
tion, that  the  arrangements  of  our  solar  system  are 
extended  into  the  regions  of  the  double  and  multiple 
stars.  We  may  mention  as  of  special  note  in  this 
connection,  in  addition  to  the  marked  progression  in 
the  formations  of  the  heavens,  observable  from  the 
centre  of  the  astral  system  to  the  outer  ring  of  the 
Milky-Way,  the  magnificence  of  color  displayed  by 
so  many  of  the  single  stars,  but  particularly,  and  al- 
most universally,  by  the  double  and  multiple  stars. 
In  color,  light  and  darkness  are  united,  their  anti- 
thesis being  resolved  and  removed.  A  complete  and 
permanent  union  of  light  and  darkness  so  as  to  form 
colors,  something  that  is  altogether  foreign  to'  our 


THE    NEBULA.  387 

system,  seems  to  be  what  is  common  in  the  stellar 
worlds.  And  this  very  fact  it  is  which  justifies  the 
conclusion,  that  as  light  and  darkness  do  not  there 
exist  as  such,  in  separation  from  each  other,  but  are 
harmoniously  united,  so  also  the  solar  and  planetary 
principles,  as  media  of  light  and  of  darkness,  are 
there  united  and  combined  in  the  same  vital  and 
harmonious  manner;  both  the  solar  and  planetary 
principles  being  indeed  present  in  the  stars,  though 
not  apart  and  in  juxtaposition  to  each  other,  but  in- 
timately united.  ISTot  in  polar  opposition  and  com- 
plete divorcement,  but  in  vital  union,  concrete  ful- 
ness, and  eternal  harmony ;  not  in  mechanical  con- 
nection (as  in  a  sense  our  sun  and  its  luminous 
atmosphere  are),  but  mutually  pervading  each  other 
in  the  most  thorough  union. 

§  13.   The  Nehulse. 

To  the  inquiry,  as  to  the  number  of  the  solar  or 
fixed  stars  contained  within  the  system  bounded  by 
our  Milky- Way,  it  must  be  answered  that  an  approxi- 
mate computation,  less  reliable  as  the  distance  in- 
creases, has  to  take  the  place  of  any  attempt  at  enu- 
meration; and  that  computation  itself  hopelessly  fails 
of  arriving  at  any  reliable  results,  in  the  most  distant 
regions  of  the  Milky-May,  wdiere  our  best  instru- 
ments are  wholly  incompetent  to  reach  and  separately 
distinguish  the  myriads  of  thickly-strewn  worlds. 

The  most  acute  human  eye  is  capable  of  distin- 
guishing fairly,  under  the  most  favorable  circum- 
stances and  without  a  glass,  stars  of  the  seventh 
magnitude,  whilst  a  common  eye  can  plainly  distin- 


388  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

guish  stars  up  to  the  fifth,  or  at  the  highest,  the  sixth 
magnitude  only.  Of  the  stars  of  the  1st  magnitude 
there  are  but  18,  equally  distributed  between  the  two 
hemispheres  of  the  heavens.  Of  the  second  magni- 
tude there  are  55,  of  the  third  about  200,  of  the 
fourth  some  460,  of  the  lifth  1160  or  more,  and  of 
the  sixth  and  seventh  the  rapidly  increasing  number 
of  over  20,000. 

The  number  of  stars  visible  through  the  best  of 
telescopes  in  the  Milky- Way  of  the  northern  hemi- 
sphere, is,  however,  according  to  the  ingenious  and 
laborious  computations  of  W.  ITerschel,  about  18  mil- 
lions. If  we  allow  a  number  somewhat  less  for  the 
southern  hemisphere,  we  have  the  astonishing  sum 
of  about  30  millions  of  suns  witJiin  the  hounds  of  our 
Milky-  Way. 

Let  us  endeavor  to  grasp  all  that  is  conveyed  by 
the  w^ords,  thirty  millions  of  suns  !  to  bring  within  the 
compass  of  our  minds  all  that  belongs  to  a  single  sun ; 
let  us  strive  to  picture  in  imagination  the  infinitude 
of  details  comprehended  in  the  short  expression,  "  a 
million  !  "  ^ 

But  is  this  all  ?  Have  we  now  reached  the  limits 
of  the  universe  ?  and  will  not  telescopes  superior  to 
those  of  the  present  day,  reveal  still  thousands  and 
millions  of  suns  in  the  outermost  regions  of  the  sys- 
tem of  our  Milky- Way,  of  which  no  glimpse  can  be 
caught  by  the  best  modern  instrument?  Is  it  true 
that  the  system  of  our  Milky- Way  is  the  only  con- 

'  At  the  rate  of  one  hundred  each  minute,  it  -would  require  un- 
interrupted counting  from  morning  till  evening  for  fourteen  days 
to  number  a  single  million. 


THE    NEBULJE.  389 

tinent  in  the  ocean  of  immensity  ?  May  it  not  rather 
be  a  mere  island  itself,  one  of  thousands  like  it 
scattered  over  this  shoreless  ocean  ? 

The  reply  to  this  inquiry  is  still  a  problem  of 
science  for  the  satisfactory  solution  of  which  ob- 
servations heretofore  made  are  wholly  incompetent. 

A  nebulous  ground  still  remains  unresolved  in  the 
Milky- Way,  under  the  power  of  even  the  best  tele- 
scopes ;  and  similar  clouds  of  liglit  are  to  be  seen  in 
other  parts  of  the  heavens.  These  are  called  Nehulce. 
Mddler^  (p.  447,)  describes  them  as  follows:  "A  good 
naked  eye  beholds  in  many  places  in  the  heavens,  a 
faint  glimmer  of  light,  which  lessens  the  darkness  of 
the  background;'  and  also  stars,  which  instead  of 
presenting  sharp,  well-defined  points,  like  most  stars, 
seem  to  be,  as  it  were,  grown  together.  But  this  spec- 
tacle gives  one  scarcely  the  most  distant  intimation 

of  the  scene  presented  through  a  large  glass 

We  have  there  laid  out  before  us,  tracts  of  all  shapes 
and  sizes,  interrupting  the  deep  darkness  of  the 
ground  of  the  heavens  with  a  cloud-like  light,  similar 
to  that  of  the  Milky- Way.  The  very  best  glasses 
frequently  succeed  in  resolving  what  through  less 
powerful  ones  appears  as  a  nebulous  cloud,  similar  to 
the  tract  of  the  Milky- Way,  wholly  or  in  part  into 
separate  astral  bodies,  presenting  to  view  a  thickly- 
crowded  cluster  of  stars.  In  other  cases,  the  resolu- 
tion is  not  so  complete  that  the  individual  stars  can 
be  separately  distinguished,  but  still  of  such  a  degree 
that  the  mind  cannot  escape  the  conviction,  that  the 
whole  nebula  is  composed  of  myriads  of  stars,  just 
as  in  the  case  of  a  heap  of  grain  or  sand,  the  indi- 
33* 


390  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

vidual  grains  cannot  be  clearly  distinguislied  at  a  cer- 
tain distance,  though  seen  with  sufficient  distinctness 
to  assure  the  mind  that  the  heap  is  made  up  of  such 
grains."  "Where  the  resolution  succeeds,  the  starry 
structure  presents  to  the  eye  an  indescribably  magni- 
ficent spectacle.  A  nebula  in  the  constellation  Her- 
cules presents  to  the  eye  when  resolved,  from  6000  to 
10,000  simultaneously  visible  stars,  which  are  so 
compacted  together  at  its  centre  as  to  form  a  sphere 
or  ball  of  light."  "But  very  many  nebulae  are  still 
to  be  found  in  which  not  the  least  approach  to  a  re- 
solution can  be  detected." 

W.  Herschel^  w^ho,  as  his  epitaph  says,  broke 
through  the  barriers  of  the  heavens  ("  coelorum  claus- 
tra  perrupit"),  directed  his  gigantic  instrument  to- 
wards 2500  of  these  remarkable  formations  of  the 
heavens,  but  he  succeeded  in  resolving  but  197  of 
them  into  stellar  clusters  similar  to  those  of  the  re- 
solved nebulous  tract  of  the  Milky- Way.  His  inves- 
tigations first  brought  us  into  a  more  intimate  ac- 
quaintance with  this  exceedingly  important  and 
interesting  part  of  astronomy.  Europe  listened  with 
astonishment  to  the  accounts  of  his  grand  discoveries, 
and  to  the  interpretations  wdiich  were  put  upon  them 
by  the  great  discoverer  himself.  Astronomers  and 
natural  philosophers  made  them  the  foundation  of 
their  hypotheses,  and  joined  in  fierce  conflict  one 
with  the  other.  But  that  which  alone  could  lead  to 
the  desired  end,  a  careful  and  uninterrupted  con- 
tinuation of  such  investigations  as  Herschel's,  was 
neglected  for  almost  a  w^hole  generation.  It  was 
Jolm  Ilersehel,    the    son,   who,    inheriting   both   his 


THE     NEBULiE.  391 

father's  name  and  his  great  fame,  first  took  up  again 
these  investigations,  and  in  a  few  years  advanced 
them  in  so  astonishing  a  degree.  It  was  subsec[uent  to 
the  year  1825  that  he  turned  his  chief  attention  to  this 
subject,  and,  in  order  to  bring  the  nebular  structure 
of  the  southern  heavens  within  the  sphere  of  his 
observation,  sailed  to  South  Africa.  He  there  insti- 
tuted a  most  comprehensive  series  of  observations, 
in  the  years  1834-1838,  the  results  of  which  were 
published  in  the  year  1847.  Since  that  time  it  has 
been  Lamont,  of  Miinchen,  who  has  in  particular 
applied  himself  to  the  task  of  investigating  the  ne- 
bular formations  of  the  heavens.  But  that  which 
neither  these  nor  any  other  astronomers  could  attain 
to,  seems  left  to  be  accomplished,  slowly  but  surely, 
by  Lord  Bosses  gigantic  telescope,  the  most  powerful 
instrument  upon  earth. 

Some  parts  of  the  heavens  are  exceeding  rich  in 
nebulse  and  stellar  clusters ;  in  others  they  appear  to 
be  entirely  wanting.  According  to  Ilerschel  the 
younger,  they  are  most  accumulated  in  the  northern 
hemisphere  of  the  heavens.  In  the  southern,  on  the 
other  hand,  while  their  number  is  much  less,  they 
are  mach  more  equally  scattered  over  its  surface. 
The  individual  forms  of  these  structures  exhibit  an 
endless  variety.  "We  condense  from  Hu7nholdt  (III. 
329  seqq.)  in  regard  to  this  matter.  The  form  of  the 
nebular  structure  is  at  one  time  regular,  spherical, 
more  or  less  elliptical,  annular,  planetar}^,  or  like  the 
photosphere  surrounding  a  star ;  at  another  time, 
irregular,  and  no  less  difficult  to  classify  than  the 
clouds  of  our  atmosphere.     The  elliptic  may  be  men- 


392  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

tionecl  as  the  normal  form  of  the  regular  nebuloe, 
with  a  great  variety  of  transitions  from  a  round  to  a 
long  elliptic  and  awl-shaped  form.  The  more  the 
form  approaches  to  the  spherical,  the  more  readily  is 
it  resolved  into  a  cluster  of  stars.  It  is  only  among 
the  round  and  oval  formations  that  double  nehulw  are 
to  be  found.  Annular  nebul83  are  some  of  the  most 
rare  occurrences.  But  seven  such  are  known  in  the 
northern  hemisphere  as  seen  by  Lord  Rosses  tele- 
scope. The  space  bounded  by  the  ring  is  sometimes 
of  a  deep  black  color,  sometimes  faintly  lighted. 
They  are  probably  stellar  clusters  disposed  in  annular 
form.  The  planetary  nebula  are  much  more  numer- 
ous than  the  annular.  They  have  the  most  striking 
resemblance  to  planetary  discs.  They  vary  much  in 
size  and  strength  of  light,  and  several  of  them  shine 
with  a  bluish  light.  To  the  regular  nebul[e  belong, 
besides,  the  so-called  nebulous  stars,  i.  e.,  true  stars, 
surrounded  by  a  milk-white  veil  or  nebula,  which  in 
all  probability  is  related  to  and  depends  upon  the 
central  star. 

Very  different  from  all  these  are  the  numerous 
large  nebulous  masses  of  irregular  form.  No  two  of 
the  latter  are  alike;  but  what  maybe  observed  in 
connection  with  them  all,  and  what  gives  them  all 
their  peculiar  character,  is  this,  that  they  are  always 
found  in  or  very  near  the  borders  of  the  Milky-'Way, 
of  which,  indeed,  they  may  be  regarded  as  olfshoots 
or  extensions.  The  regularly  shaped  and  well-defined 
small  nebulae,  are,  on  the  other  hand,  in  part  scat- 
tered over  the  whole  heavens,  and  in  part  crowded 
together  in  a  region  of  their  own,  far  distant  from 


THE    NEBULA.  393 

the  Milky- Wa}^  Modern  observation  lias  not  estab- 
lished the  once  wide-spread  theory  of  a  Milky- Way 
of  nebulae,  crossing  and  cutting  the  Milky- Way  of 
the  stars,  almost  at  right  angles.  The  most  remark- 
able of  alt  the  irregular  nebular  formations  are  the 
Magellanic  Clouds,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  south 
pole.  These  striking  objects  enchain  the  astonished 
gaze  of  the  wandering  mariner,  both  from  their  great 
size,  and  their  brilliancy  to  the  naked  eye,  which  is 
equal  to  that  of  the  Milky- Way  at  its  brightest  points, 
as  well  as  from  their  completely  isolated  position 
with  regard  to  all  the  other  astral  and  nebular  for- 
mations of  the  heavens.  There  are  two  of  these 
clouds,  the  larger  containing  about  42,  and  the 
smaller  10  square  degrees  of  surface.  We  are  in- 
debted to  Sir  Jno.  HerscheVs  residence  on  the  Cape, 
for  a  closer  analysis  of  these  wonderful  structures. 
They  are  composed  of  an  assemblage  of  the  most 
diverse  elements.  Herscliel  discovered  a  large  num- 
ber of  single  stars  (of  from  the  7th  to  the  10th  magni- 
tude) scattered  through  their  substance,  also,  groups 
and  globular  clusters  of  stars;  oval,  regular  and  ir- 
regular, closely-crowded  nebulae.  These  clouds  are 
not  connected  with  each  other,  nor  yet  with  the 
Milky- Way.  Opposite  to  them,  but  somewhat  more 
distant,  there  circle  about  the  south  pole,  dark  spots, 
called  by  the  old  mariners  Coal-sacks,  which  are  very 
prominent  in  contrast  with  the  showy  splendor  of  the 
clouds.  They  are  not,  indeed,  wholly  devoid  of  stars, 
but  contain  comparately  few  (only  one  star  of  the  6th 
or  7th,  though  many  telescopic  stars  of  from  the  11th 
to  the  13th  magnitude),  and  it  is  the  marked  contrast 


394  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

between  tliem  and  tlie  adjacent  splendor  of  the  Ma- 
gellanic clouds  which  accounts  for  their  remarkable 
blackness. 

Two  inquiries  of  high  import  press  upon  the 
thoughtful  observer  as  he  regards  these  mysterious 
luminous  structures :  is  the  distinction  between  re- 
solvable and  irresolvable  nebulae  to  be  referred 
merely  to  the  imperfection  of  our  instruments,  so 
that  as  the  latter  improve  the  class  of  resolvable 
nebulae  will  constantly  increase,  until  at  length,  when 
we  have  reached  a  supposed  perfection,  all  nebulae 
heretofore  discovered  or  yet  to  be  discovered,  shall 
have  resolved  themselves  to  our  astonished  eye,  into 
millions  or  billions  of  single  stars  ?  Or  is  this  dis- 
tinction founded  in  nature,  so  that  there  are  really 
nebulae  in  the  heavens  absolutely  irresolvable  ? 

Then  follows  the  second  question:  Are  these 
nebulae  members  of  our  own  astral  system,  forming 
with  it  a  complete  whole,  and  bound  to  it  by  the 
strong  bonds  of  an  intimate  and  essential  relation  ? 
or  are  we  to  regard  them  as  wholly  separate  and  in- 
dependent systems  of  worlds,  so  that  each  one  of  the 
thousands  of  nebulae  is  in  itself  a  distinct  system, 
similar  to  and  of  equal  importance  with  that  one  to 
which  our  sun  and  our  Milky-Way  belong  ? 

Ever  since  the  more  general  use  of  the  telescope 
has  revealed  the  nebular  formations  of  the  heavens 
with  more  distinctness,  and  in  greater  numbers,  the 
most  remarkable  difference  of  opinion  has  exhibited 
itself  in  connection  with  this  question.  Galileo, 
Oassiiii,  J.  3fichell,  and  others,  regarded 'all  nebulae 
as  distant  clusters  of  stars ;   Tt/cJio  de  Brake,  Kepler, 


THE    NEBULA.  395 

Ilalley^  Derliam^  Lacaille,  Kant,  and  Lamhert,  on  the 
other  hand,  maintained  the  existence  of  starless  ne- 
bulous masses.  W,  Herschel  was  at  first  attached  to 
the  view  that  all  irresolvable  nebulae  are  extremely 
remote  systems  of  Milky -Ways.  "  As  he,  however, 
towards  the  close  of  his  life,  again  examined  some 
of  those  nebulae  supposed  to  be  immeasurably  dis- 
tant, he  observed  in  them  a  progression  towards  a 
certain  adjacent  star,  quite  manifest  even  in  the  short 
course  of  his  own  life.  These  observations  forced 
upon  his  mind  the  probability,  that  those  were  not  so 
much  inconceivably  distant  starry  formations,  as 
luminous  masses  without  form,  situated  inside  the 
boundaries  of  the  heavens  visible  to  the  naked  eye, 
not  by  any  means  at  so  great  a  distance.  Sahroter, 
another  no  less  careful  observer,  remarked  variations 
(for  example,  a  sudden  extension  or  contraction  of 
its  boundaries)  in  the  nebula  of  Orion,  which  took 
place  so  instantaneously,  and  over  such  a  vast  extent 
of  celestial  space,  that  they  reminded  him  much  more 
of  the  electro-meteoric  phenomena  of  our  atmosphere, 
than  anything  else.  Similar  changes  are  maintained 
to  have  been  observed  in  the  cloud-like  formations  of 
the  heavens  by  other  observers. 

W.  Herschel  was  but  strengthened  in  his  new^  opi- 
nion, from  his  examination  of  the  so-called  nebulous 
stars,  and  led  back  to  a  view  formerly  held  by  Tycho 
de  Brahe  and  Kepler,  if  it  were  in  a  different  connec- 
tion and  under  a  different  apprehension.  It  was  this 
—  that  the  unresolved  part  of  the  nebula  consisted 
not  so  much  of  thickly-crowded  stars,  as  of  star-ma- 
terial, cosmical  matter;  so  that  the  universe  is  a  con- 


396  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

staiit  scene  of  world-production,  a  place  where 
worlds  are  being  formed.  Also,  that  there  was  a  time 
when  nothing  existed  hut  floating,  unbounded  nebu- 
lous matter,  and  tliat  what  now  appears  as  a  nebulous 
mass  incapable  of  resolution,  will  yet  in  the  future 
glitter  as  a  cluster  of  stars.  Perhaps,  too,  many  of 
these  worlds  have  been  completed  for  thousands  of 
years,  whose  ra^'s,  sent  out  since  that  epoch,  have 
not  3'et  reached  us,  but  are  still  underway  —  it  being 
reserved  for  our  remote  descendants  to  behold  them 
in  their  perfected  state.  All  grades  of  progress  in 
this  process  of  forming  worlds  are  still  to  be  observed 
in  the  heavens,  from  the  unlimited  dispersion  of  ne- 
bulous matter  without  shape,  to  the  gathering  toge- 
ther and  compacting  of  the  same  into  well-defined, 
regular  forms  ;  from  the  first  beginnings  of  nuclear 
condensations,  to  the  full  completion  of  suns  and 
solar  systems.  "Just  as  in  a  forest"  (thus  Humholdt 
illustrates  this  view,  Kosm.  I.,  87),  'Hhe  same  species 
of  trees  are  seen  coexisting  in  all  stages  of  growth, 
from  whence  we  derive  the  impression  of  progressive 
development  of  life,  so  also  in  the  great  nursery  of 
worlds  we  behold  the  greatest  variety  of  gradually- 
progressing  cosmical  formations." 

This  view  has  also' been  adopted,  at  least  in  part, 
by  G-.  IT.  von  Schubert,  and  independently  developed 
and  carried  out  by  him,  particularly  in  his  ingenious 
work,  ''Die  Urwelt  und  die  Fixsterne.''  "The  emi- 
nent Herschel,"  says  he,  p.  60,  "has  in  the  most  con- 
vincino'  manner  established  the  fact  of  the  oris-in  and 
foi-mation  of  the  fixed  stars  from  such  luminous  ne- 
bulous matter,  and  has  indicated  many  points  in  the 


THE     N  E  B  U  L  iE  .  397 

Jicavci]!?,  wliere  miij  be  seen,  as  it  were,  those  great 
golden  birds  coming  forth  from  the  egg,  or  still 
covered  with  parts  of  the  shell  —  the  remains  of  the 
unconsumed  nebulous  matter."  And  again,  p.  145  : 
"There  in  the  heavens  we  behold  the  element  from 
whence  the  stellar  suns  derive  their  form  and  being, 
a  uniform,  ethereal,  mildly-shining  matter,  which  is 
dissipated  through  the  wide  spaces  of  the  universe 
like  a  phosphorescent  vapor,  ever3^where  transparent, 
and  possessed  of  the  greatest  mobility,  assuming  now 
one  form,  and  then  with  the  rapidity  of  light  seizing 
to  itself  new  boundaries ;  but  with  all  these  high 
qualities,  still  deprived  of  the  proper  and  higher 
form,  which,  is  founded  upon  polarization  alone.  The 
difference  between  a  well-defined  fixed  star,  shining 
with  a  bright  ray — like  the  thousand-fold  concentrated 
light  of  the  electrical  flame — and  governed  by  forces 
of  a  higher  order,  and  the  irresolvable  glimmering 
nebula,  is  no  other  than  that  which  exists  between 
the  crude  shapeless  bodies  of  our  earth  and  the  crys- 
talline. Pierced  by  a  ray  of  creative  power  the  coal 
becomes  a  diamond,  the  nebula  a  star." 

Schubert  further  attempts  to  show  that  all  the  ne- 
bulae and  clusters  of  stars,  both  within  and  without 
the  Milky- Way,  form  with  the  latter  a  well-arranged, 
closely-connected  system,  mutually  conditioning  and 
completing  each  other  as  its  constituent  parts.  He  sees 
a  faint  image  of  the  grand  whole  comprehended  in 
the  organism  of  the  universe,  in  the  luminous  atmo- 
sphere of  our  sun,  where  there  are  discovered  by  the 
telescope,  darker  and  lighter  portions  adjoining  each 
other,  caused  by  the  gathering  together  of  the  sun's 
34 


398  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

light-ether  into  solar  faculae,  and  a  simultaneous 
formation  of  solar  spots  in  the  places  vacated  by  the 
ether,  ^vhere,  as  through  a  rent  vail,  may  be  seen  the 
dark  body  of  the  sun.  These  alternations  of  lighter 
and  darker  regions  are  most  striking  in  the  region 
of  the  sun's  equator.  And  just  at  this  place  it 
is  that  the  vast  body  of  the  sun  is  surrounded  by 
a  still  more  extensive  and  immeasurably  Avide-spread 
nebulous  light,  the  so-called  zodiacal  light,''  which 
extends  beyond  the  orbit  of  Mars,  or  which  is  (ac- 
cording to  the  latest  views^)  a  free  and  mobile  ring 
of  light,  revolving  about  the  sun,  between  the  orbits 
of  the  earth  and  Mars.  This,  ring  is  seen  only  pre- 
vious to  sunrise  and  after  sunset,  being  overpowered 
by  the  blinding  light  of  the  denser  solar  atmosphere 
by  day,  and  presents  to  the  eye  a  faint  luminous  ap- 
pearance, similar  to  the  luminous  tract  of  the  Milky- 
Way,  having  a  pyramidal  form,  with  its  base  resting 
upon  the  horizon.  "AVere  the  eye  of  an  observer 
in  the  region  of  the  sun's  equator  to  be  cast  into  the 
depths  of  space,  it  would  behold  everywhere  in  the 
direction  of  the  zodiacal  light,  a  girdle  or  tract  of  ne- 
bulous light  traversing  the  whole  vault  of  the  hea- 
vens, and  extending  outwards  to  an  immeasurable 

'  "  The  zodiacal  light,"  says  Humboldt  [Kosm.  I.,  p.  89),  "which 
presents  itself  in  pyramidal  form  —  from  its  mild  lustre,  the  con- 
stant glory  of  the  tropical  night  —  is  either  a  large  rotating  nebu- 
lous ring,  between  the  orbits  of  the  earth  and  Mars,  or,  less  pro- 
bably, the  outer  stratum  of  the  solar  atmosphere  itself/'  Compare 
further,  Kosmos  I.,  p  .142-148.  The  plane  of  the  zodiacal  light 
deviates  from  the  plane  of  the  earth's  orbit  but  7^  degrees,  for 
which  reason  it  cannot  be  seen  in  circular  but  only  in  perpendicu- 
lar form,  and  was  called  by  the  ancients,  trdbs,  boxo^. 


THE    NEBULiE.  399 

distance What  is  represented  on  a  small 

scale  by  the  solar  atmosphere  is  repeated  in  the  hea- 
vens of  the  fixed  stars,  on  a  scale  inconceivably  more 
grand  and  extensive.  The  eye  of  an  observer  di- 
rected from  our  planet  to  the  lofty,  brilliant,  and  far- 
reaching  expanse,  which  takes  in  the  whole  of  our 
cosmical  structure,  beholds  in  almost  every  direction 
a  nebulous  light  —  like  an  atmosphere  —  which, 
being  here  and  there  interrupted  by  dark  open  spaces, 
is  generally  upon  their  immediate  borders,  as  in  the 
formation  of  solar  facula^,  intensified  and  gathered 
together  into  brighter,  denser  nebulous  clouds,  clus- 
ters of  stars,  and  clear,  brilliant  single  stars.  The 
unfailing  mutual  accompaniment  of  a  dark  space 
and  a  cluster  of  stars,  which  so  clearly  favors  the 
view  that  all  the  visible  reahns  of  light  belong  to  one 
connected  whole,  being  the  offspring,  as  it  were,  of 
one  flood  of  light,  is  so  obvious  to  every  careful  eye, 
that  Ilerschel  in  his  age  frequently  called  attention 
to  it."'  It  would  appear,  farther,  that  the  Milky- 
"Wa,y  of  the  heavens  possesses  the  same  significance 
as  the  girdle  or  ring  of  the  zodiacal  light,  which  re- 
sembles the  former  not  only  in  its  lenticular  or  annu- 
lar form,  but  also  in  the  circumstance  that  just  here 
those  dark  solar  spots  appear  with  most  constancy 
and  in  the  most  striking  manner,  just  as  the  brightest 
nebulae  and  most  dense  strata  of  the  Milky- Way  are 
bordered  by  dark  and  almost  starless  spaces. 

"If  we  compare  more  closely"  (continues  Schu- 
bert, p.  117),  "the  later  observations  of  Ilerschel,  we 
can  scarcely  escape  the  conviction  that  all  the  ne- 

*  Urwelt,  p.  114  seq. 


400  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

bul^G  and  Milky- Ways  belong  with  our  own,  to  one 
and  the  same  closely-connected  and  on  the  whole 
pretty  equidistant  system,  whose  luminous  masses 
and  generally  globular  clouds  of  light,  have,  just 
like  the  nebuloas  belts  which  surround  Jupiter, 
crowded  themselves  together  in  a  special  manner 
only  in  certain  direction,  leaving  the  other  por- 
tions of  the  heavens  wholly  or  comparatively  bare. 
For  by  far  the  greater  part  of  nebulae  discovered  up 
to  this  day,  lie  not  as  it  were  accidentally  scattered 
in  every  region  of  the  heavens,  but  form  pretty 
regular  zones  and  strata,  of  which  one  at  least  tra- 
verses the  whole  circle  of  the  heavens.  .  .  .  The 
Milky- Way,  according  to  Herschel's  observations  for 
many  years,  does  not  by  any  means  consist  in  gene- 
ral of  equally-distributed  stars ;  for  in  the  half  of 
this  interesting  formation  known  to  himself,  225 
clearly  separated  clusters  of  stars  were  to  be  pointed 
out,  all  belonging  to  one  closely-connected  whole. 
But  why  except  from  such  a  close  connection  with 
the  great  whole  of  our  Milky- Way,  those  hundreds 
of  additional  nebulae  discovered  by  Herschel  in  or 
upon  the  very  borders  of  this  starry  zone,  and  which 
because  they  formed  more  closely-crowded  and  gene- 
rally small  globular  s^'stems,  or  nebulous  structures 
not  capable  of  resolution,  he  held  to  be  inconceivably 
more  remote  than  the  Milky- Way  proper?" 

The  oft-mentioned  alternation  of  portions  of  the 
heavens  bright  and  rich  in  stars,  and  portions  dark 
and  containing  but  few  stars,  "justifies  [Schuhei't^ 
page  128)  the  conclusion,  that  all  those  nebulous 
formations  and  cosmical  masses  in  the  heavens,  the 


THE    NEBULA.  401 

distant  as  well  as  the  near,  have  proceeded  from  the 
same  once  uniform  and  wide-spread,  unbroken  nebu- 
lous cloud,  which  not  until  it  felt  the  energy  of  the 
Divine  command  that  it  should  bring  forth  worlds, 
resolved  itself  into  those  single  and  separate  lumin- 
ous nebulse  and  glowing  spheres."  This  productive 
and  vivifying  luminous  ether  which  fills  the  whole 
starry  heavens,  the  true  fountain  and  store-house  of 
all  created  light  which  animates  and  supplies  the 
visible  realms  of  immensity,  he  calls  the  atmo- 
sphere of  atmospheres,  which  is  to  all  the  concourse 
of  the  worlds  of  the  fixed  stars,  what  our  atmosphere 
is  to  the  earth  and  its  inhabitants,  and  regards  it  as 
tlie  medium  whereby  all  the  thousands  of  stars  and 
stellar  systems  are  bound  together  into  one  vast  and 
closely-related  community  of  the  created. 

The  view  of  the  elder  Herschel,  in  regard  to  a  still 
ever-progressing  formation  of  worlds  out  of  luminous 
cosmical  nebulae,  has  in  the  meantime,  however,  con- 
tinuously lost  credit.  The  very  astronomers  most 
conspicuous  in  this  sphere  of  investigation,  Herscliel 
the  younger,  and  Lamont,  have  declared  themselves 
against  it,  and  in  favor  of  the  notion  of  the  perma- 
nent stability  of  the  starry  heavens  as  the  result  of 
a  long-since  completed  formative  process.  In  regard 
to  this  question,  RerscJiel  the  younger  speaks  thus  -} 
*'A11  cosmological  arguments  founded  upon  the  ob- 
servation of  such  a  transition,  lie  open  to  the  objec- 
tion, that  however  unequivocally  the  existence  of 
a  gradually  upward  tending  series  amid  a  large 
number  of  contemporaneously  existing  individuals 

•  Mildler,  Pop.  Astr.,  p.  455. 
34* 


402  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

may  be  establislied,  still  we  have  no  reason  for  the 
belief  that  each  individual  has  passed  or  could  pass 
through  all  observed  stages,  or  that  it  is  indeed  in  a 
state  of  gradual  advancement. — The  grades  of  animal 
life,  from  man  down  to  the  lowest  orders,  are  almost 
infinite,  and  certain  naturalists  would  fain  introduce  a 
system  of  development,  which,  commencing  with  the 
simpler  forms,  rises  to  the  more  complex,  and  finally 
to  the  highest  of  all ;  but  so  long  as  the  real  presence 
of  such  a  development  is  not  perceived  —  so  long  as 
every  animal  through  all  generations  inherits  the 
defects  of  its  progenitors,  we  can  at  best  but  assume 
the  possible  original  existence  and  fruitful  manifesta- 
tion of  a  tendency  towards  improvement  or  advance- 
ment, all  progress  in  the  now  existing  state  of  nature 
having  long  since  reached  its  end."— In  like  manner 
Lamont:  ^'If  we  examine  the  oldest  records  and 
sources  of  information  relative  to  the  state  of  the 
heavens,  all  is  found  to  agree  with  what  is  still  at 
present  observed.  .  .  .  When  I  take  into  careful 
consideration  all  the  circumstances  concerned,  this 
appears  to  me  with  great  probability  the  legitimate 
result,  that  the  whole  cosmical  structure,  after  the 
close  of  some  sort  of  a  formative  period,  loug  since 
passed  over  into  a  state  of  sustained  equilibrium  or 
repose,  of  permanent  and  all-preserving  order." 

Schubert  also,  now,  in  his  latest  w^ork  (Weltgeb.  p. 
105),  refuses  his  assent  to  the  theory  of  the  elder 
Ilerschel.  His  words  are  these  :  "  In  contradiction 
to  the  theory  of  development  in  connection  with 
nebulous  matter,  heretofore  mentioned  b}^  us,  we 
must  now,  from  the  stand-point  of  present  knowledge, 


THE    NEBULiE.  403 

decide  in  favor  of  the  view  that  all  the  various  forms 
of  the  stellar  systems  and  nebulse  of  the  universe,  are 
parts  of  one  vast  organic  co-ordained  whole,  which, 
just  as  the  earth  and  its  atmosphere,  just  as  the  gela- 
tinous medusa  or  tremella,  and  the  more  highly  or- 
ganized animal  or  the  cedar,  may  have  originated  and 
may  henceforth  subsist  together,  with  each  other  and 
side  by  side."  But  he  still  yet,  however,  stands  by 
his  previous  view  of  the  unity  or  close  connection 
and  relation  of  all  the  stars  and  nebular  groups  in  the 
firmament.  He  also,  according  to  the  above-men- 
tioned work  (p.  94),  now  holds  that  "  those  nebular 
formations  are  not  situated  in  regions  of  space  in- 
definitely remote,  but  witliin  our  own  astral  system, 
nearer  to  us  perhaps  than  the  inner  ring  of  our  Milky- 
Way." 

Mlidler,  however,  has  shown  {pop.  Astr.  p.  450, 
seqq.)  this  view  which  would  refer  all  the  phenomena 
of  the  heavens,  without  exception,  to  a  space  bounded 
by  the  system  of  our  Milky- Way,  to  be  inadmissible ; 
and  most  modern  astronomers  seem  inclined  to  side 
with  him,  even  though  they  may  hold  the  matter  to 
be  one  which  must  long  remain  incapable  of  a  defi- 
nite or  satisfactory  solution. 

In  regard  to  the  more  regularly-formed,  though  not 
as  sharply  defined  as  the  planetary,  nebular  masses, 
Mddlerhsis  declared  the  supposition  admissible,  ''that 
they  do  not  consist  of  stars,  but  of  light,  rare,  lumin- 
ous matter,  star-material  as  it  were,  holding  some- 
what the  same  relation  to  the  more  dense  bodies  of 
stars  proper,  that  comets  do  to  planets;"  and  he  also 
allows  the  possibility,  that  "  they  may  belong  to  our 


404  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

astral  system,  and  take  part  in  the  complex  web  of 
its  attractions."  The  planetary  nebulee  proper  seem 
also  best  explained  by  tlie  same  supposition,  since 
the  exact  rounding  off  of  a  cluster  composed  of 
myriads  of  very  distant  fixed  stars,  could  be  at  best 
but  a  rare  accident,  which  amid  the  countless  number 
of  equally  possible  forms,  could  not  occur  more  than 
78  times  out  of  2500.  (?)  With  regard  to  the  nebulae 
which  have  already  been  resolved  into  distinct,  separ- 
ate stars,  there  exists  little  doubt  of  their  all  belong- 
ing to  the  stellar  system  whose  outer  boundaries  are 
marked  by  our  Milky- Way.  There  are,  however,  a 
few  of  these  clusters  so  closely  crowded  with  stars, 
and  of  such  apparent  insignificant  diameter,  that 
besides  the  above  explanation,  the  other  also  might 
be  adopted,  according  to  which  they  are  regarded  as 
lying  beyond  our  Milky- Way,  and  as  not  belonging 
to  it.  These  may,  indeed,  Mddler  hesitates  not  to  say, 
be  astral  systems  similar  to  the  system  of  our  Milky- 
Way.  But  that  which  may  be  allowed  as  possible, 
in  the  case  of  these  resolvable  nebulae,  can  scarcely 
be  avoided  in  the  case  of  the  nebuhe  which  are  of 
irregular  form,  and  wholly  incapable  of  resolution. 
It  seems  not  possible,  according  to  the  laws  of  gra- 
vity, that  they  should  be  composed  of  rare,  luminous 
nebulous  matter.  Were  this  their  constitution,  they 
could  not  for  centuries  have  retained  the  same  form, 
but  would  have  long  since  been  drawn  together  into 
more  or  less  globular  form,  through  the  influence  of 
a  mutual  attraction  of  their  constituent  parts.  Hence 
it  must  be  assumed  that  by  far  the  greater  number 
of  the  nebulce  are,  absolutely  considered,  capable  of 
resolution — that  they  are  true  clusters  of  stars. 


THE    NEBULAE.  405 

The  whole  question  here  depends,  first  of  all,  npon 
whether  the  absolute  invariability  of  form  for  cen- 
turies, supposed  by  Madler,  has  been  duly  ascertained 
and  established.  But  we  have  already  seen  that  W, 
ITerschel,  Schroter,  and  others,  have  remarked  changes 
of  form  in  connection  with  nebula?,  such  as  sudden 
expansions,  contractions,  &c.  From  the  comparative 
rarity  of  such  experiences,  however,  we  are  left  to 
conjecture  that  some  illusion  of  vision  may  have 
taken  place  in  the  cases  mentioned.  From  the  uni- 
versal attention  now  directed  to  these  mysterious  for- 
mations, we  may  look  forward  to  no  remote  day, 
when  a  much  more  correct  and  satisfactory  judg- 
ment may  be  pronounced  in  regard  to  this  matter 
than  is  possible  at  present.  At  all  events,  an  import- 
ant and  decisive  point  in  regard  to  the  whole  ques- 
tion of  the  nature  of  the  irresolvable  nebulce,  lies  in 
the  determination  of  the  correctness  or  falsity  of  the 
above  observations  of  Herschel  and  others. 

But  astronomy  in  the  mean  time  seems  to  ap- 
proach nearer  the  desired  object  in  another  way.  The 
number  of  the  resolvable  nebulae  is  increasing  with 
every  year.  Mr.  Bond,  of  Cambridge,  has  discovered 
1500  small  stars  in  the  borders  of  the  nebula  of  An- 
dromeda, which  has  hitherto  been  regarded  as  abso- 
lutely incapable  of  resolution ;  and  although  the  centre 
of  the  nebula  still  remains  unresolved,  Humboldt 
hesitates  not  to  set  it  down  (III.  316)  among  the  clus- 
ters of  stars.  Of  signal  and  unw^onted  service  in  this 
domain  of  astronomical  science  is  the  colossal  tele- 
scope of  Lord  Rosse.  "  The  40  nebulse  chosen  by 
Rosse  for  examination,  have,  by  the  aid  of  observa- 


406  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

tion,  been  divided  into  three  classes :  nniform  circu- 
lar surfaces,  round  nebulos  with  one  or  more  marked 
nuclei,  and  finally,  such  as  are  lengthened  in  certain 
directions,  or  in  general  deviate  materially  from  the 
circular  form.  The  first,  10  in  number,  may  be  com- 
pletely resolved  into  distinct  stars,  under  the  moder- 
ate magnifying  power  of  360.  In  the  second  class  it 
was  observed  that  the  brighter  star,  frequently  indi- 
cated by  previous  observers  as  a  single  central  star, 
resolved  itself  into  a  cluster  of  closely-crowded 
brighter  stars,  which  again  were  surrounded  by  more 
scattered  and  fainter  stars.  The  nebulae  of  the  third 
class  were  scarcely  resolvable  on  account  of  too  great 
optical  condensation  of  their  inner  parts.  The 
stars  of  most  of  the  nebulae  are  comparatively  very 
small."  (Madler,  Nachtrcige,  pp.  24,  25).  In  regard  to 
the  celebrated  nebula  in  the  sword  of  Orion,  hereto- 
fore considered  incapable  of  resolution,  E-osse  ex- 
presses himself  thus :  "I  may  safely  say,  that  there 
can  be  little  if  any  doubt  of  the  resolvability  of  this 
nebula.  We  were  unable  on  account  of  the  state  of 
the  atmosphere,  to  use  more  than  half  the  magni- 
fying power  the  speculum  bears ;  still  we  could  see 
that  all  about  the  trapezium  is  a  mass  of  stars.  The 
rest  of  the  nebula  equally  abounds  with  stars,  and 
exhibits  the  characteristics  of  resolvability  strongly 
marked."  At  a  subsequent  period  (1848)  Lord  Rosse 
had  not  announced  that  his  fondly  cherished  expec- 
tation of  being  able  to  resolve  completely  the  nebula 
of  Orion,  had,  as  yet,  been  fulfilled,  though  he  still 
hoped  it  would  be. 

Mohiiison,  an  American  astronomer,  expresses  it  as 


THE    NEBULiB.  407 

his  decided  conviction,  ''  that  there  does  not  exist  in 
the  heavens  a  single  nebula,  in  a  physical  sense;  " 
and  Jb/m -SerstjAeZ  writes  :  "Although  there  are  ne- 
bulae to  be  found,  which  still  appear  only  as  nebulae, 
through  the  colossal  instrument  of  Rosse,  without 
betraying  any  signs  of  resolution,  we  may  neverthe- 
less argue  from  analogy,  that  there  is  in  reality  no 
distinction  between  nebulae  and  clusters  of  stars." 

If  we  hence  take  it  for  granted  that  all  the  nebulae 
w^ithout  exception,  will  eventually  turn  out  to  be 
thickly-crowded  myriads  of  stars,  what  will  become 
of  the  unity  of  the  astral  system,  so  ingeniously  set 
forth  by  Schubert  ? 

It  does  not  seem  to  us,  that,  even  were  all  the  ne- 
bulae shown  to  be  capable  of  resolution,  vfe  should 
be  forced  to  assume  the  existence  of  several,  perhaps, 
indeed,  thousands  of  separate  and  independent  astral 
systems  like  our  own.  The  very  fact  of  their  being 
resolvable  would  favor  the  view  that  they  cannot  be 
more  distant  than  the  outer  ring  of  the  Milky-Way, 
and  the  more  strongly  so  as  the  resolution  were  more 
easily  accomplished.  And  most  assuredly  if  our  best 
instruments  have  revealed  a  nebulous  stratum  in  the 
Milky-Way  which  they  cannot  resolve,  but  which 
must  notwithstanding^  be  reofarded  as  belonsrinff  to 
the  same  system  as  this  Milky- Way,  we  may  place 
the  still  unresolved  nebulae  in  the  same  category  as 
to  distance,  and  regard  them  as  belonging  to  the 
same  all-comprehending  system. 

We  should  not  without  regret  (and  we  frankly  ac- 
knowledge it)  relinquish  the  view,  which  has  grown 
ftir  into  our  favor,  that  all  the  astral  and  nebular  for- 


408  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

Illations  of  tlic  heavens  belong  together  in  one  uirKjue 
and  comprehensive  system;  but  at  the  same  time 
our  preference  for  this  view  does  not  go  so  flir,  that 
we  should  for  its  sake  ignore  or  lightly  regard  the 
results  of  science.  AVhenever  the  fruits  of  scientific 
investigation  shall  have  shown  the  correctness  of  the 
opposite  opinion,  we  shall  just  as  readily  take  our 
stand  by  it.  .  Certainty  does  not  belong  to  either 
aspect  of  the  question,  as  the  matter  at  present  stands, 
nor  can  the  abettors  of  either  the  one  or  the  other 
view  compel  submission.  And  just  here  lies  the  rea- 
son why  we  should  ever  hold  in  proper  regard  the 
view  opposite  to  our  own,  and  leave  room  for  it  in 
any  general  theory  we  may  adopt. 

But  were  the  unity  of  all  astral  and  nebular  forma- 
tions rejected  on  good  grounds,  we  should  then  have, 
in  addition  to  our  own  astral  system,  with  its  perhaps 
hundreds  of  millions  of  suns,  some  thousands  of 
completel}^  isolated  systems  of  worlds,  similar  to  our 
own  and  entitled  to  the  same  distinction.  Indeed, 
Justin  the  same  ratio  that  those  remote  systems  were 
laid  open  to  view  by  the  increasing  perfection  of  our 
instruments,  and  separated  for  the  first  time  into  mil- 
lions of  suns,  new  nebulae  might  be  espied,  which 
are  now  hidden  from  our  best  glasses,  but  which, 
nevertheless,  might  be  resolved  into  stars  by  greatly 
improved  instruments.  Mddler  (joop.  Astr.  p.  454), 
from  a  calculation  of  probabilities  in  regard  to  the 
distance  of  these  systems,  arrives  at  the  conclusion, 
that  the  nearest  astral  system  lies  at  such  a  distance 
from  us,  that  its  light  must  be  under  way  for  about 
30  millions  of  years  before  reaching  our  telescopes — 


THE    NEBULA.  409 

and  yet  light  travels  with  the  inconceivable  velocity 
of  192,000  miles  in  a  single  second  !  What  an 
amazing  distance  !  But  think  !  the  distance  of  the 
most  remote  astral  system  ! 


°[The  foregoing  representations,  involving  the  zodiacal  light, 
may  .require  some  modification  from  the  following. 

One  of  the  most  important  recent  additions  to  our  knowledge  in 
regard  to  the  solar  system,  pertains  to  an  object  belonging  to  our 
own  planet — the  Zodiacal  Liglit.  This  phenomenon,  which  has 
been  the  subject  of  such  different  opinions,  and  referred  to  such 
different  places  and  connections  in  our  system,  seems  at  last  to 
have  been  located.  It  is  now  regarded  as  a  nebulous  ring  belong- 
ing physically  to  the  earth,  and  revolving  round  it  at  the  distance 
of  some  thousands  of  miles.  It  is  the  nearest  known  body  in  the 
firmament.  It  suggests  an  analogy  between  the  earth  and  the 
planet  Saturn,  and,  like  the  inner  ring  of  the  latter  body,  it  is 
transparent.  As  this  new  discovery  is  of  such  importance,  and 
concerns  a  body  so  close  at  hand,  yet  so  little  known  until  within 
a  year  or  two,  we  shall  quote  at  some  length  from  a  paper  by  the 
Rev.  George  Jones,  U.  S.  N.,  announcing  his  fruitful  observations 
in  regard  to  this  object. 

Rev.  Mr.  Jones  says :  "  Only  some  vague  notices  of  the  zodiacal 
light  occur  in  ancient  authors,  before  it  is  distinctly  and  briefly 
mentioned  by  Chauldry,  in  IGGI.  It  was  first  carefully  observed 
by  Cassini,  an  Italian  by  birth,  at  the  Observatory  of  Paris.  He 
thought  it  an  emanation  of  the  sun.  His  associate,  Tacio,  thought 
it  a  ring  around  the  sun.  Miran,  in  1731,  thought  it  an  atmo- 
sphere connected  with  the  sun.  In  all  subsequent  speculations, 
no  new  observations,  after  Cassini's,  were  used,  till  1832.  In 
1844,  Biot  observed  that  the  nodes  of  the  zodiacal  light  did  coin- 
cide with  those  of  the  earth,  and  suggested  that  it  might  be  more 
local  than  had  been  supposed.     He  found  that  it  gave  more  heat 

than  the  tail  of  a  comet  did The  zodiacal  light  appears 

best  when  it  is  on  the  ecliptic.  When  at  the  summer  solstice  and 
on  the  tropic  of  Capricorn,  the  zodiacal  light  was  visible  from  11 
to  1  in  both  horizons  at  once,  with  their  apices  approaching  each 

35 


410  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

other.  Ill  the  centre  of  tlie  light  is  a  condensed  part,  with  a 
boundary  of  its  own.  On  this  voyage  [when  Mr.  Jones  made  his 
observations],  Jan.  31,  1854,  at  LooChoo,  he  first  noticed  the  pul- 
sations of  intensity  in  the  space  of  a  minute  or  two  that  it  exhi- 
bits on  some  occasions.  He  made  331  sets  of  observations.  He 
found  that,  if  by  the  revolutions  of  the  earth  he  receded  from  the 
ecliptic,  the  zodiacal  light  moved  a  little  in  the  same  direction, 
and  vice  versa." 

Mr.  Jones  then  stated  that  the  following  facts  he  had  noticed 
could  be  explained  by  one  supposition,  viz.,  that  of  a  nebulous 
ring  surrounding  the  earth.  The  following  are  the  results  of  his 
observations : 

"  1.  This  light  cannot  be  from  any  body  involving  us  in  its 
matter,  else  we  could  not  get  boundaries  to  it,  any  more  than  we 
could  to  a  mass  of  fog  or  a  column  of  smoke  in  which  we  were 
involved.     We  must  be  apart  from  it  in  order  to  get  bounds. 

2.  It  cannot  be  from  a  planetary  nebulous  body  revolving 
around  the  sun,  but  must  be  from  a  nebulous  ring ;  for  it  is  to  be 
seen  every  morning  and  evening  in  the  year,  when  the  moon  or 
clouds  do  not  interfere,  which  could  not  be  the  case  were  it  any- 
thing else  than  an  unbroken  ring. 

3.  If  a  ring,  with  the  sun  for  its  centre,  it  cannot  be  within  the 
orbit  of  our  globe  ;  for  then  it  could  not  be  seen  simultaneously 
over  the  eastern  and  western  horizon  at  midnight,  the  spectator's 
horizon  then  extending  far  above  it,  on  either  side;  nor  could  its 
vertex  ever  be  in  the  spectator's  zenith,  or  indeed  any  great  dis- 
tance above  his  horizon,  which  is  contrary  to  the  facts. 

4.  Is  it  a  solar  ring  extending  beyond  the  earth  ? 

On  this  subject  I  must  refer  to  the  data  afforded  by  these  obser- 
vations, for  it  is  only  from  facts  that  we  are  able  to  argue  in  the 
case.  Any  one  examining  these  data  will  see,  I  think,  that  the 
lateral  changes  from  hour  to  hour  in  the  boundaries  of  the  zodia- 
cal light,  especially  towards  the  horizon,  could  not  have  taken 
place  in  a  ring  so  distant  as  a  solar  ring  would  have  been  at  the 
point  where  reached  by  the  horizon.  ...  If,  in  the  course  of  four 
or  five  hours,  the  earth's  rotation  carried  me  from  the  southern  to 
the  northern  side  of  the  ecliptic,  or  the  opposite,  the  zodiacal  light 
changed  with  me,  its  lateral  boundaries  shaping  themselves  ac- 
cording to  my  change  of  place.     This  was  not  always  the  case, 


THE    NEBULiE.  411 

but  It  was  the  general  fact.  When  I  Avas  far  in  southern  latitudes, 
the  greater  mass  of  the  zodiacal  light,  instead  of  being  on  the 
ecliptic  as  here,  had  shifted  over  to  the  south  ;  and  as  we  came 
fi-om  E.io  to  New  York,  as  rapidly  as  steam  could  carry  us,  the 
mass  of  light  came  with  us  to  the  north  once  more;  still,  how- 
ever, in  its  varying  positions,  having  a  reference  to  my  position 
with  regard  to  the  ecliptic.  I  ask,  supposing  that  the  zodiacal 
light  Is  from  a  solar  ring,  which  would  make  the  base  of  Its  light 
at  its  first  and  last  appearance,  nearly  or  quite  180,000,000  miles 
oflf,  would  that  light  at  its  base  show  such  changes  as  It  actually 
does  in  half  an  hour  or  an  hour,  when  the  spectator's  place  on  the 
earth  has  been  so  slightly  changed?  I  have  taken  a  few  of  my 
observations,  and  have  submitted  them  to  calculation,  not  making 
much  of  a  selection,  for  almost  every  observation  in  the  book 
would  give  similar  results." 

Mr.  Jones  then  goes  on  to  detail  some  observations  and  calcu- 
lations too  lengthy  to  be  introduced  here,  and  arrives  at  the  con- 
clusion that  a  solar  ring  will  not  meet  the  data  of  the  case.  But 
he  says,  "an  earth-ring  will  do;  that  is,  a  nebulous  ring  around 
the  earth  will  readily  allow  such  lateral  changes  to  be  produced 
by  such  a  change  of  the  spectator's  place." 

"But  there  is  another  view  of  this  subject  which  may  be  con- 
sidered still  more  cancluslve  against  such  a  solar  ring.  Take 
cases  which  very  often  occur  when  the  ecliptic  Is  somewhat  toward 
a  right  angle  to  the  horizon,  and  circumstances  therefore  favorable 
for  a  good  display  of  the  zodiacal  light.  Say  it  is  morning,  an 
hour  and  a  half  before  sunrise.  The  base  of  this  light  will  be 
exceedingly  brilliant — as  much  so  almost  as  if  the  sun  were  just 
going  ta  rise — while  the  vertex  of  the  light  overhead  will  be  so 
dim  as  to  be  scarcely  made  out.  Yet  on  the  supposition  of  a  solar 
ring  reaching  beyond  the  earth,  the  base  of  that  light  must  be 
180,000,000  of  miles  from  us,  and  the  vertex  comparatively  only 
a  very  short  distance,  while  also  the  whole  circuit  of  the  ring  is 
equally  illuminated  by  the  sun,  and  those  portions  near  our  zenith, 
as  fur  as  I  can  judge,  also  more  favorably  situated  for  reflecting 
his  light  than  those  portions  at  his  base.  We  can  scarcely  imagine 
such  a  state  of  things. 

"Believing  that  this  query,  as  to  the  data  of  the  case  being  met 
by  the  supposition  of  a  solar  ring,  must  be  answered  in  the  nega- 


412  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

tive,  I  am  driven  to  the  only  alternative,  of  a  nebulous  ring  around 
the  earth.     The   moon's  zodiacal  light  seems  also  to  show  that 

matter  lies  within  the  orbit  of  the  moon "We  may  well 

query — if  the  zodiacal  light  comes  from  a  nebulous  ring  around 
the  earth  and  within  the  orbit  of  the  moon,  may  not  the  shooting 
stars,  and  even  the  aerolites  have  their  origin  there.  Observa- 
tions, I  think,  show  that  there  is  a  constant  commotion  within  the 
ring  itself;  may  not  the  nebulous  matter,  half  agglomerated  here 
and  there,  be  shot  by  these  commotions  beyond  its  sphere,  and, 
caught  by  the  attraction  of  the  earth,  be  drawn  down,  till,  striking 
our  atmosphere,  they  glance  in  any  casual  direction,  and  taking 
fire  become  consumed,  thus  giving  us  the  shooting  stars?  And 
may  not  this  nebulous  matter,  still  further  solidified  and  with  a 
same  fate,  afford  us  the  aerolites?  For  if  such  matter  could  have 
once  afforded  us  our  moon,  it  may  easily  afford  bodies  such  as 
aerolites  are  found  to  be.  What  is  nebulous  matter?  My  obser- 
vations throw  no  light  upon  the  subject.  It  is  very  transparent, 
for  I  had  no  difficulty  in  seeing  stars  of  the  sixth  magnitude 
through  its  most  effulgent,  and  therefore  densest  portions.  But 
transparency  does  not  argue  tenacity  as  a  matter  of  course;  for 
rock  crystal  and  the  diamond  are  the  most  transparent,  while 
they  are  densest  and  hardest  of  all  bodies.  But  of  whatever 
composed,  I  do  not  suppose  the  ring  of  the  zodiacal  light  to  be 
composite,  for  its  internal  disturbances  are  opposed  to  this.  But 
•with  our  present  knowledge,  such  reasonings  cannot  satisfy  us : 
they  only  beckon  us  to  be  searchers  and  further  collectors  of  facts." 
—  Annl.  Scient.  Dis.,  1856,  p.  374,  seqq. 

The  theory  of  Mr.  Jones  is  favorably  received  by  the  scientific 
men  of  the  country.  Prof.  Peirce  thinks  that  if  his  theory  had 
been  first  proposed,  no  second  would  ever  have  been  entertained. 
*'  His  only  objection  had  been  that  one  satellite  could  never 
maintain  a  ring,  and  he  is  still  of  that  belief,  but  is  convinced 
that  it  has  many  other  satellites  too  small  to  be  seen,  and  that 
these  satellites  furnish  the  meteors  which  fall  to  the  eartli.'' 

Prof.  S.  Alexander  arrives  at  the  conclusion  that  the  earth's 
ring  revolves  in  about  12  hours,  at  a  distance  of  nearly  17,000 
miles  from  the  centre  of  the  earth.  He  deduces  the  distance  in 
connection  with  the  fact,  that  the  apices  of  the  zodiacal  light  are 
35°  apart  Avhea  simultaneously  visible. — Tr,] 


RETROSPECT.  413 

§  14.  Metrospect, 

Nowhere  in  the  known  universe  is  absohite  rest  to 
be  found.  All  celestial  bodies  are  involved  in  a 
whirl  of  a  varied  and  complicated  movement,  and 
none  of  them  can  escape  its  magical  influences. 

Kotation  about  an  axis  is  the  simplest  form  of 
movement.  This  species  of  motion  is  a  constant 
and  invariable  law  in  our  solar  system,  to  which  the 
king  of  day  himself,  no  less  than  the  smallest  of  his 
subjects,  is  compelled  to  conform.  The  same  law  in 
all  probability  prevails  even  to  the  utmost  limits  of 
the  worlds  of  the  fixed  stars. 

A  second  form  of  movement,  which  may  either 
coincide  with  the  former  (as  in  the  case  of  the  moon), 
or  be  different  from  it  (as  may  be  seen  in  tlie  planets), 
is  that  in  which  one  body  revolves  about  another,  or 
rather,  the  two  revolve  around  a  point  of  gravity 
common  to  them  both.  This  movement  is  also  con- 
ditioned by  laws,  the  general  prevalence  of  which 
throu'ghout  the  whole  universe  is  scarcely  any  more 
a  matter  of  doubt. 

Our  moon  revolves  round  the  earth,  forming  with 
it  a  partial  system ;  the  earth  with  the  moon  circles 
about  the  sun,  and  the  sun  itself,  with  all  its  planets, 
moons  and  comets,  is  involved  in  that  majestic  cir- 
cling dance  of  the  spheres,  in  which  millions  of  suns 
move  harmoniously  around  a  common  centre.  And 
if  the  thousands  of  nebulae  capable  of  being  reached 
but  not  resolved  by  our  telescopes,  are  systems  of 
Milky-Ways  similar  to  our  own,  we  may  certainly 
with  great  probability  suppose  that  all  these  island- 
35* 


414  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

worlds  scattered  throughout  the  ocean  of  immensity, 
are  related  to  each  other,  forming  a  higher,  yea,  the 
very  highest  system  of  created  life  and  movement. 

Our  solar  system  does  not  occupy  the  very  centre 
of  the  great  city  of  worlds  surrounded  by  the  rings 
of  the  Milky-Way  as  magnificent  walls  of  light. 
But  still  our  position  is  comparatively  quite  near  this 
central  spot — "somewhere  upon  the  great  central 
square,"  as  it  were,  of  the  city  of  worlds.    • 

If  we  compare  our  solar  system  with  the  rest  of 
the  worlds  belonging  to  the  system  of  the  Milky- 
Way,  we  are  at  once  struck  with  the  effectual  con- 
trast that  reveals  itself,  and  which  would  represent 
our  solar  system  as  one  in  fashion,  constitution  and 
arrangement  (and  perhaps  the  ohIt/  one  of  the  kind 
in  the  universe) — which,  while  it  is  supported  and 
animated  by  the  same  fundamental  laws  of  life  and 
movement  as  all  the  rest,  still,  in  all  other  respects, 
maintains  its  independent  and  peculiar  character. 

But  it  is  at  the  same  time  to  be  observed,  that 
when  our  solar  system,  with  its  independent  and 
peculiar  character,  a  structure  perhaps  without  a 
counterpart  in  the  whole  -  cosmical  system,  is  com- 
pared as  a  whole  to  the  great  whole  comprehended 
by  the  system  of  the  Milky- Wa}'-,  it  represents  the 
latter  in  many  respects,  as  a  diminutive  model  of  this 
system  of  the  fixed  stars.  For  just  as  our  solar  sys- 
tem from  its  outer  limits  ta  its  centre,  gradually  as- 
sumes a  different  nature,  does,  mutatis  mutandis,  a 
repetition  of  the  same  take  place  in  the  system  of  the 
fixed  stars.  We  have  previously  remarked  the  fact, 
that,  in  our  solar  system,  as  bodies  increase  in  dis- 


RETROSPECT.  415 

taiDce  from  the  sun,  the  common  centre  of  the  s^'s- 
tem,  they  also  increase  in  size  and  in  the  number  of 
their  accompanying  bodies,  with  which,  also,  they 
form  partial  system  ;  but  that  they  in  a  similar  ratio 
decrease  in  density.  The  analogous  occurs  in  the 
astral  system  of  the  heavens. 

Our  solar  system  may  be  compared  in  the  effectual 
contrast  it  everywhere  presents  to  the  astral  system, 
to  an  island  in  the  wide  ocean  ;  ^  in  loosing  from  the 
island  w^e  forsake  the  firm  land,  it  recedes  from  our 
view,  the  waters  gather  more  around  us,  until,  the 
traces  of  that  which  is  firm  and  stable  dying  out,  we 
are  left  in  the  midst  of  a  very  different  element.  As 
in  our  solar  system  there  is  a  decrease  of  density  with 
an  increase  of  distance  from  the  centre,  so  also  in  the 
system  of  the  fixed  stars  as  distance  increases  density 
grows  less.  The  stars  nearest  to  us  seem  still,  in  a 
measure,  to  remind  us  of  the  solidity  of  the  bodies 
of  our  system,  from  their  density  and  fixed  outline ; 
whilst  in  the  more  remote  celestial  regions  the  simi- 
larity gradually  completely  disappears.  The  same 
analogy  holds  good  with  respect  to  size.  And  as 
w^th  us  the  planets  nearest  the  sun  pursue  their 
courses  alone,  and  groups  of  closely-related  bodies 
multiply  and  grow  larger  in  the  number  they  contain, 
in  proportion  to  their  distance  from  the  centre  of  the 
system ;  so  also  amid  the  worlds  of  the  fixed  stars, 
but  on  an  infinitely  grander  scale.     "If  w^e,"  says 

*  According  to  John  Herschel,  there  is  scarcely  a  region  to  be 
pointed  out  in  the  whole  known  universe  where  the  fixed  stars  lie 
80  distant  from  each  other  as  does  our  sun  and  the  nearest  fixed 
(Stars.  —  Schubert,  Weltgeb.,  p.  29. 


416  ASTRONOMICAL    FACTS. 

Schubert,  "■  consider  the  stellar  clusters  as  double  or 
multiple  stars  of  a  higher  grade,  it  seems  worthy  of 
note  that  the  clustering  together  of  stars  of  the  latter 
kind,  should  always  take  place  in  the  regions  of  the 
universe  supposed  to  be  most  distant  from  the  .centre 
of  the  astral  system ;  while  the  association  of  a  few 
small  stars  into  a  system  is  frequently  observed  in 
that  part  of  the  heavens  thought  to  be  much  nearer 
to    us,   until   at   last,   comparatively  quite   close   at 
hand,  such  collections  of  a  few  stars  even  become 
more  rare,  and  the  state  of  isolation  more  general." 
"We  may  here  also  remind  the  reader  how  analo- 
gies are  furnished   throu2:hout  the    starrv  heavens 
to  corresponding  conditions  and  movements  in  the 
solar  faculse  and  solar  spots,  referring  to  our  remarks 
about  the  variation  of  brightness  in  the  stars,  tlie  ex- 
pansions, contractions  and  condensation  of  nebulae, 
&c.     AYe  may  further  refer  to  the  correspondence  to 
be  observed  between  the  zodiacal  light  and  the  Milky- 
Way,  and  to  the  fact  that  Saturn,  ^vith  its  remark- 
able system  of  rings,  is  best  fitted  of  all  known  cos- 
mical  formations,  to  illustrate  to  us  the  arrangement 
of  the  rings  of  the  Milky -Way;  and  finally,  we  may 
note  how  remarkably  our  countless  comets  remind 
us  of  the  nebulse  of  the  firmament,  which  resemble 
the  former,  not  only  from  their  being  in  part  infin- 
itely light,  mobile,  with  a  nuclear,  star-like  conden- 
sation, and  composed  of  a  similar  luminous  vapor — 
though  of  a  brilliancy  vastly  superior — but  also  pre- 
sent other  phenomena  which  remind  us  much  mare 
closclv  of   those  mysterious    erratic  bodies.      The 
close  and  crowded  position  of  the  remote  celestial 
bodies,  so  in  contrast  with  the  wide  distances  of  our 


RETROSPECT.  417 

system,  finds  a  distant  analogy  in  the  extremely  close 
approach  of  the  comets  to  the  sun.  But  still  much 
more  striking  analogies  are  offered  hy  the  appearance 
and  configuration  of  nebulse  and  comets  respectively. 
In  15  nebulous  stars,  for  example,  there  is  to  be  seen, 
in  addition  to  the  more  dense  nucleus,  a  pencil-like 
or  fan-like  tail,  while  others  have  a  hooked  shape,  and 
the  like.  On  the  other  hand,  comets  have  been  ob- 
served, the  nuclei  of  which — similar  to  the  nuclei  of 
nebulas  —  are  composed  of  numerous  quite  small 
single  stars.  Schubert  is  of  opinion  {Urwelt,  p.  5Q), 
that  w^ere  the  comets  self-luminous  in  the  same 
intense  degree,  "  the  millions  of  these  erratic  bodies 
which  belong  to  our  planetary  system,  would  then 
appear  to  a  distant  observer,  as  so  many  suns  moving 
in  opposition  to  each  other  in  a  narrow  and  closely- 
crowded  space." 


CHAPTER   SIXTH. 

CONFLICT   AND   HAPaiONY   BETWEEN   THE   BIBLE   AND 
ASTRONOMY. 

§  1.  Design  of  this  Chapter. 

The  results  of  astronomy  have  in  the  present  day 
become  the  common  heritage  of  all  well-informed 
and  cultivated  minds,  and  are  signally  deserving  of 
our  high  consideration.  For  no  human  science  is  so 
well  fitted  as  astronomy,  to  loose  the  fetters  which 
bind  the  human  mind  to  the  narrow  sphere  of  earth; 
none  so  able  to  widen  the  contracted  horizon  of 
earthly  views  and  efforts,  or  to  waken  up  and  sustain 
within  the  breast  of  man  a  consciousness  of  his  high 
calling  to  make  everythipg  in  time  and  space  sub- 
servient to  the  wants  of  his  mind. 

But  the  high  significance  of  this  science  in  the 
culture  of  the  mind,  can  only  be  asserted,  when  the 
results  of  astronomy  are  not  merely  laid  up  in  the 
memory,  but  also  brought  into  vital  and  fruitful  com- 
merce with  the  other  possessions  and  efforts  of  the 
mind.  It  may  very  readily  happen  in  this  process  of 
fullest  appropriation,  that  new  ideas  which  we  just 
now  acquire,  may  stand  in  conflict  with  previous 
knowledge  or  information,  gathered  from  other 
quarters.  This  is  signally  the  case  in  the  sphere  of 
religion,  or  rather  theology,  its  scientific  mode  of  ap- 
prehension ;  for  both  this  science  and  astronomy  ex- 
tend their  spheres  of  knowledge  into  the  higher, 

(418) 


DESIGN   OF   THIS    CHAPTER.  419 

siipramiuidane  regions,  and  hence  frequently  come 
in  contact  or  extend  into  each  other. 

Natural  religion,  which  the  human  mind,  enriched 
by  the  contemplation  of  nature  and  history,  has  ac- 
quired from  its  own  depths,  and  by  its  own  intellec- 
tual efforts,  is  ever  ready  without  much  difficulty  to 
yield  to  the  really  or  apparently  superior  claims  of 
new  knowledge,  if  it  contradict  the  previously  ac- 
quired possessions  of  the  mind,  and  to  permit  itself 
to  be  reconstructed  from  the  new  material.  But  the 
case  is  different  with  revealed  religion.  This,  as 
objective,  divine  truth,  demands  unconditional  sub- 
mission and  acknowledgment  on  the  part  of  all  con- 
tradictory or  irreconcilable  knowledge  —  a  demand 
which  cannot  but  be  conceded  to  so  long  as  we  re- 
cognize it  as  revealed  religion.  But  were  the  truth- 
fulness and  superiority  of  the  contradictory  astrono- 
mical results  real  and  incontestable,  and  the  contra- 
diction itself  an  absolutely  irreconcilable  one,  our 
faith  could  then  no  longer  retain  its  position  as  a 
revealed  religion. 

Such  is  found  to  be  the  sad  case  of  the  Christian 
religion  at  the  present  day,  according  to  charges 
made  from  various  quarters,  Avith  great  assurance. 
It  is  maintained  that  astronomical  results  of  un- 
doubted correctness  have  been  obtained,  which  ir- 
resistibly force  us  to  a  theory  of  the  world  which  is 
wholly  irreconcilable  with  the  Christian  theorj^,  and 
completely  overthrows  it. 

Three  grand  points  in  the  Biblical  theory  of  the 
world,  with  which  at  best  the  Bible  and  its  considera- 
tion as  a  record  of  Divine  revelations,  stand  or  fall, 


420  CONFLICT   AND    HARMONY. 

are  here  called  in  question.  First,  the  Biblical  teach- 
ings in  regard  to  the  creation  of  the  world,  both  with 
respect  to  its  general  features  and  also  to  the  special 
detailed  facts  of  the  process ;  next,  the  doctrine  of 
the  redemption  of  the  world  through  the  incarnation 
of  the  Son  of  God,  with  its  preliminaries  and  con- 
sequences; and  finally,  the  Biblical  teachings  in 
regard  to  the  end  of  the  world  and  the  judgment,  as  the 
close  of  all  historical  developments  in  the  world. 

But  w^e  design  looking  the  pretended  antagonist 
somewhat  more  fairly  in  the  face.  We  design  to  see 
whether  our  faith  in  the  Divine  origin  and  authority 
of  the  Scriptures,  which  have  heretofore  so  abun- 
dantly verified  their  power  in  life  and  in  death, 
which  have  transformed  and  renewed  the  world, 
must  yield  to  the  light  of  this  human  science,  must 
really  blush  to  be  taught  its  own  credulity.  And 
finally,  we  design  to  see  whether  there  may  not  be 
effected  a  reconciliation  and  a  union,  whether  the 
forbidding  antagonist  may  not,  after  all,  on  a  better 
understanding,  become  our  willing  friend  and  ally. 

§  2.   The  Doctrine  arid  History  of  the  Creation. 

Infidelity  has  ever  felt  itself  specially  called  upon 
to  contest  the  Biblical  doctrine  and  the  Biblical  his- 
tory of  the  creation.  Deism  and  Pantheism,  partly  in 
alliance  and  partly  at  dissent,  have  been  equally 
prompt  in  entering  the  lists  against  these  hated  op- 
ponents. Pantheism  has  been  specially  bitter  against 
the  doctrine  of  the  creation ;  while  Deism,  on  the 
other  hand,  has  chiefly  contested  the  history  of  the 
creation. 


DOCTRINE    AND    HISTORY   OF    CREATION.    421 

As  Deism  found  its  views  to  harmonize  with  the 
Biblical  theory  of  a  creation  out  of  nothing,  at  the 
bidding  of  the  Almighty,  it  had  nothing  to  object  to 
the  doctrine  itself,  but  merely  to  the  assertion  of  its 
Divine  origin,  which  in  its  denial  of  the  possibility  of 
revelation  or  inspiration  from  above,  it  cannot  allow. 
But,  in  order  to  give  this  denial  a  specious  coloring, 
it  has  been  over-zealous  in  contesting  the  history  of 
the  creation  ;  endeavoring  to  show  that  the  latter  is 
fall  of  contradictions  with  itself  and  with  the  results 
of  physical  research,  full  of  childish  notions,  laugh- 
able blunders,  and  absurd  suppositions,  so  that  even 
were  revelation  possible,  such  a  book  could  not  pass 
as  Divine. 

The  sympathies  of  Pantheism  were  enlisted  in  a 
wholly  diiferent  direction.  The  transcendence  of 
God,  his  exaltation  over  time  and  space,  with  a  crea- 
tion proceeding  from  the  will  of  this  transcendent 
Being,  the  very  point  in  which  Deism  agreed  with 
the  Bible,  was  to  it  an  exceedingly  bitter  draught. 
Its  hostility  was  hence  chie%  directed  against  the 
Biblical  doctrine  of  the  creation,  against  the  scrip- 
tural views  of  a  creation  in  time  and  from  nothing, 
through  the  will  of  a  personal  God,  distinct  from  the 
world,  and  infinitely  exalted  above  it.  Its  hostility 
towards  the  history  of  the  creation  was  founded 
altogether  on  secondary  considerations.  This  history 
was  obnoxious  to  it,  merely  because  that  hated  doc- 
trine lay  at  its  foundation,  and  had  assumed  in  it  a 
concrete  form.  Hence  it  blushed  not  to  make  com- 
mon cause  with  Deism  in  combating  the  history  of 
the  creation,  and  to  appropriate  to  itself  the  trivial 
36 


422  CONFLICT   AND    HARMONY. 

objections  and  absurd  charges  of  tbe  former.  It 
hesitated  not  a  moment  to  stoop  to  the  disgrace  of  so 
treacherous  and  dishonorable  an  alliance,  with  an 
antagonist  formerly  despised  from  its  very  heart,  and 
held  i-n  proud  derision,  and  one  which  urged  the  con- 
test against  the  historical  account  of  the  creation,  for 
the  direct  purpose  of  getting  rid  of  those  views  of 
that  account  which  alone  seemed  of  any  consequence 
to  Pantheism  itself,  if  indeed  even  they  were  more 
than  half  reasonable — its  teachings  respecting  the 
immanence  of  Deity,  the  observation  of  succession 
in  creation,  &c. 

It  is  not  our  object  here  to  copibat  Deism  and 
Pantheism,  as  such;  but  merely  to  show  the  ground- 
lessness of  their  mutual  appeal  to  astronomy — to 
show  that  astronomy  in  its  established  results  does 
not  join  with  them  in  opposition  to  the  Bible,  but 
that  it  agrees  with  the  latter  in  combating  the  posi- 
tions of  both  Deism  and  Pantheism. 

From  this  stand-point  we  have  not  the  least  fear  as 
to  the  issue  of  the  assault  upon  the  Biblical  doctrine 
of  the  creation.  But  as  the  aggression  is  made,  not 
Avith  the  weapons  of  astronomy,  but  of  speculation, 
the  charge  may  be  rej^elled  with  similar  weapons,  if 
any  one  consider  the  matter  to  merit  so  much  con- 
sideration. IsTo  astronomer  has  ever  pretended  to 
maintain  that  the  results  of  his  empirical  research 
have  forced  him  to  deny  the  possibility  of  a  creation 
out  of  nothing.  Wherever  astronomy  has  departed 
from  its  legitimate  object  of  experimental  investiga- 
tion, and  has  built  up  hypotheses  touching  the  pro- 
bable origin  of  the  celestial  bodies,  upon  the  basis  of 


CREATION    IN    SIX    DAYS.  423 

results  obtained,  it  has  ever  come  to  a  boundary 
wliere  it  was  said,  "Hitherto — but  no  further."  We 
might,  perhaps,  not  be  mistaken  in  supposing  that 
with  the  aid  of  this  science,  the  origin  and  progres- 
sive advancement  of  the  celestial  bodies  to  the  state 
in  which  they  are  now  fonnd,  might,  from  the 
analogy  of  beginnings  and  developments  which  are 
still  matter  of  observation,  be  made  in  a  measure 
intellio^ible  to  the  human  mind.  But  astronomers 
have  never  seriously  thought  of  attempting  to  decide 
whether  the  primeval  matter  and  forces  concerned  in 
the  production  of  these  bodies,  existed  from  eternity, 
or  were  created  in  time ;  whether  the  cooperation  of 
this  matter  and  these  forces  in  the  formation  of  cos- 
mical  bodies,  was  merely  the  result  of  accident,  or 
Avhether  it  was  produced  and  directed  by  a  higher, 
personal,  superintending  will. 

It  hence  merely  remains  for  ns  to  adjust  the  pre- 
tended contradiction  between  astronomy  and  the 
Biblical  history  of  the  creation. 

§  3.    The  Creation  of  the  World  in  Six  Bays. 

It  is  objected  iii^t  of  all,  and  from  different  quar- 
ters, that  the  Bible  limits  the  process  of  the  creation 
to  six  days. 

Minds  have  in  time  past  been  stumbled  at  the 
circumstance,  that  God,  of  whom  it  is  said :  "  He 
spake  and  it  was  done ;  he  commanded  and  it  stood 
fast,'"  should  have  spent  six  days  in  the  creation  of 
the  world,  and  not  have  accomplished  it  in  a  single 
moment.     But  more  lately,  since  our  theory  of  the 

'  Ps.  38  :  9. 


424  CONFLICT   AND    HARMONY. 

world  has  been  modified  by  Herscliel's  ideas  of  a 
still  progressing  astrogenesis,  and  the  hypotheses  of 
geology  concerning  the  formation  of  the  earth's  crust, 
it  has  been  deemed  by  many  inconceivable,  yea, 
even  absurd,  to  suppose  that  the  heavens  and  the 
earth  should  have  originated  and  attained  their  jire- 
sent  structure  and  perfection  in  the  space  of  merely 
six  days.  At  least  thousands  or  myriads  of  years,  it 
is  said,  if  not  millions  or  billions,  must  necessarily 
have  been  spent  in  such  a  creation  as  we  behold/ 

It  is  not  our  intention  to  combat  the  astronomical 
or  the  geological  suppositions  upon  which  this  argu- 
ment is  founded,  or  to  cast  suspicion  on  them, 
although  those  are  in  reality  at  best  mere  hypotheses 
which  cannot  lay  claim  to  complete  certitude,  but 
are  founded  merely  on  a  greater  or  less  degree  of 
probability.  We  shall  pass  altogether  by  such  often 
used  and  often  misused  arguments ;  for  one  reason, 
because  we  can  do  without  them.  For  another  rea- 
son, because,  say  what  we  will  against  the  reliability 
of  the  hypotheses  touching  the  formation  of  the  earth 
and  the  stars,  there  still  remains  an  impression  of 
w^iich  we  are  wholly  unable  to  rid  ourselves,  that  the 
process  of  the  formation  of  the  whole  world,  from  its 
first  beginning  to  its  last  finishing  touch,  must  have 
required  a  much  longer  time  than  merely  six  times 
twenty-four  hours. 

For  the  same  reasons  we  shall  pass  by  the  theolo- 
gical argument,  "  that  one  day  is  with  the  Lord  as  a 
nliousand  years,  and  a  thousand  years  as  one  day," 
or,  that  the  question  is  not  one  of  leugtli  of  time, 
but  of  the  measure  of  the  Divine  influence  exerted, 


CREATION    IN    SIX    DAYS.  425 

in  the  more  rapid  or  slower  process  by  wliicli  the 
worlds  were  completed,  and  the  like,  although  w^e 
will  by  no  means  admit  that  th.ey  are  without  signi- 
ficance and  value. 

We  shall  pass  by  all  these,  as  we  have  said,  since 
we  do  not  stand  in  need  of  them,  but  at  the  same 
time  we  shall  not  deny  that  they  possess  both  truth 
and  weight.  A  proper  understanding  of  Genesis  1, 
such  as  we  have  arrived  at,  Chap.  4,  §  8  and  17,  is 
amply  sufficient  to  prove  the  futility  of  this  and  all 
similar  objections. 

The  six  days  work  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  first 
creation  of  the  earthy  to  say  nothing  of  the  creation 
of  the  universe.  The  heavens  and  the  earth  were 
already  in  existence  (v.  1) :  they  were  both  created 
and  indidualized  before  this  work  began.  But  the 
earth,  at  least,  was  still  devoid  of  light  and  life :  it 
was  "  tohu  va  bohu."  Both  these  it  received  during 
the  six  days'  work,  in  continual  progress  from  their 
lower  to  the  higher  grades.  It  Avas  during  this  time 
that  the  earth  received  its  present  form,  its  j^^'e-sent 
physical  forces,  its  present  inhabitants,  and  its  present 
relations  to  the  rest  of  the  heavenly  bodies.  These 
are  all  points  in  which  neither  astronomy  or  geology 
has  the  least  right  to  pass  an  opinion  as  to  the  length 
of  the  process.  Astronomy  may  have  a  right  to 
maintain  that  the  heavens  of  the  fixed  stars  must 
have  been  in  existence  for  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
years,  but  it  has  no  right  to  say  that  the  sun,  moon, 
and  stars,  may  have  regulated  and  ruled  our  earthly 
niglit  and  day,  lorior  to  the  fourth  day.  There  was 
-necessary,  in  addition  to  a  power  of  exciting  light, 
3(3* 


426  CONFLICT   AND    HARMONY. 

whicli  may  have  been  possessed  by  the  stars  since 
their  first  origin,  a  susceptibility  to  light  on  the  part 
of  the  earth,  in  order  that  their  agency  might  affect 
the  latter ;  and  no  dogma  of  astronomy  can  disturb 
our  clear  conviction  that  this  commerce  of  influences 
was  opened  at  the  time  represented  by  the  Bihle. 
Equally  ready  are  we  to  concede  to  geology,  that  vast 
periods  of  development,  and  demolition  of  previous 
forms  of  matter,  may  have  preceded  the  present  form 
of  the  earth.  These  periods  occurred  before  the 
tohu  va  hohu,  and  there  is  not  a  word  in  the  Bible 
antagonistic  to  such  a  view.  But  never  can  geology 
convince  us  that  the  last  preparation  of  the  surface 
of  the  earth  for  the  residence  of  man,  must  have 
required  a  time  of  either  more  or  less  than  six  days. 
We  have  already  stated  why  God  did  not  choose  to 
give  the  earth  its  present  form  in  a  single  moment, 
rather  than  extend  and  distribute  his  creative  influ- 
ence over  six  days,  should  any  one  here  still  feel  dis- 
posed to  object.  Besides,  the  objection  has  been 
sufficiently  answered  heretofore,  by  the  reference 
made  to  Gen.  2  :  3,  by  the  Church  Fathers.  The 
form,  distribution,  and  duration  of  God's  creative 
agency,  were  determined  with  respect  to  man,  just 
as  the  earth  itself  was  prepared /or  him.  God's  em- 
ployment on  the  earth  was  to  be  a  pattern  and  type 
of  man's  future  earthly  activity. 

A  second  objection  against  the  representations  of 
the  Hexsemeron,  arising  out  of  the  later  astronomical 
and  geological  results,  rests  upon  the  unequal  distri- 
bution of  creative  activity  between  the  six  days.  The 
fourth  day  is  particularly  conspicuous  in  this  connec- 


LIGHT    BEFORE    THE    SUN.  427 

tion.  Whilst  five  whole  daj^s  were  spent  in  the  com- 
pletion of  OLir  earth,  which  is  at  best  but  a  mere  point 
in  the  whole  universe,  it  would  be  maintained,  it  is 
objected,  that  all  the  rest  of  the  universe,  with  its 
millions  and  perhaps  billions  of  suns  and  worlds,  was 
finished  in  a  single  day.  But  it  is  clear  that  the  same 
misapprehension  lies  at  the  foundation  of  this  objec- 
tion, which  gives  rise  to  the  controversy  about  a  six 
days'  work  in  general.  If  we  confine  the  work  of  the 
fourth  day  to  the  establishment  of  a  permanent  rela- 
tion between  the  earth  and  the  celestial  bodies,  which 
is  not  merely  justified,  but  even  required  by  the  re- 
cord, all  difiiculty  immediately  vanishes,  and  the  dis- 
tribution of  creative  activity,  as  mentioned  in  the 
Ilexsemeron,  exhibits  the  fairest  and  most  equal 
proportions. 

§  4.   The  Creation  of  Light  before  the  Sun. 

A  host  of  severe  and  clamorous  complaints  besides, 
which  prefer  the  charge  not  merely  of  contradictions 
with  modern  astronomical  results,  but  also  of  puerile 
narrowness  of  mind,  absurdities  and  self-contradic- 
tions,- is  heaped  up  against  the  account  of  the  fourth 
day's  work. 

The  remark  is  often  heard,  how  laughable,  absurd, 
and  insufterably  puerile  it  is,  that  the  record  should 
represent  the  sun  to  have  originated  on  the  fourth 
day,  while  light,  which  as  every  child  knows,  can 
proceed  alone  from  the  influence  of  the  sun,  should 
have  been  already  created  on  the  first  day. 

One  scarcely  knows  whether  to  be  provoked  at  the 
inconsiderateness  shown  in   such  an   argument,  to 


428  CONFLICT    AND   HARMONY. 

laugh  at  its  utter  shallowness,  or  to  commiserate  the 
pitiable  mental  condition  of  those  who  make  use 
of  it. 

For  assuredly  only  the  most  unbecoming  and  in- 
excusable want  of  consideration,  or  the  narrowest 
mental  capacity  alone,  can  account  for  the  circum- 
stance that  the  author  of  the  record  of  the  creation 
should  be  imagined  so  stupid  and  shallow,  that,  had 
his  communications  been  but  the  ofispring  of  his  own 
speculations  and  fancies,  he  should  not  have  knoAvn 
that  it  was  the  sun  which  now  gave  to  the  earth  its 
light  and  shade,  its  morning  and  its  evening.  ISTo 
less  unaccountable  would  it  be,  otherwise,  that  any 
one  could  imagine  he  should  (as  he  subsequently, 
verse  16  seqq.,  expressly  mentions  the  ofhce  of  the 
sun  to  be  to  give  light  upon  the  earth,)  have  forgotten 
this  fact,  and  speculated  in  the  face  of  it.  And  he 
a  man,  too,  profoundly  wise  and  acute,  just  in  the 
measure  that  his  communications  are  confined  to  the 
wisdom  of  his  own  mind  !  .        '  \ 

The  difficulty  here  is  not  that  the  author  does  not 
appear  to  know  what  is  plain  to  every  child  of  two 
years,  but  that  being  doubtless  fully  aware  of  the  facts 
(v.  16-18),  he  should  not  hesitate  to  teach  that  a  light 
which  illuminated  the  earth,  was  created  before  the 
sun, — and  not  once  to  have  thought  of  this  difficulty, 
is  ground  enough  upon  which  to  convict  his  accusers 
of  culpable  w^ant  of  consideration,  or  the  most  lamen- 
table shallowness  of  mind. 

But  what  shall  be  said  to  the  fact  that  a  mere 
glance  at  the  page  of  a  modern  text-book  in  physics 
or  astronomy,  is  sufficient  to  show^  us  that  the   earth 


LIGHT    BEFORE    THE    SUN.  429 

and  probably  the  rest  of  the  planets  also,  still  pos- 
sess, since  a  permanent  relation  has  been  established 
between  themselves  and  the  sun,  countless  inherent 
sources  of  producing  light;  and  that,  just  as  the 
Bible  says,  the  sun  is  not  a  light,  but  a  bearer  of  light, 
a  body  which  excites  and  developes  light,  and  the 
like  ?  And  should  we  not  rather,  instead  of  seeking 
excuse  for  the  stupidity  of  the  author,  who  pretends 
to  be  a  divinely-illumined  Prophet,  try  to  understand 
how  it  has  happened  that  he  should  have  uncon- 
sciously and  undesignedly,  obtained  profound  views 
into  the  nature  and  modes  of  light,  such  as  have  for 
thousands  of  years  escaped  the  acute  and  untiring 
investigations  of  the  physicist ;  that  he  in  immediate 
prophetic  contemplation  should  have  anticipated  the 
profound  and  happy  investigations  of  modern  days, 
in  regard  to  the  nature  of  light? 

"We  may  here  add  for  further  consideration,  in  ad- 
dition to  what  we  have  already  (Chapter  5,  §  1.) 
gathered  concerning  the  nature  of  light,  and  its  de- 
velopment through  the  influence  of  the  sun  upon  the 
planets,  as  well  as  through  an  independent  agency 
belonging  to  the  planets  themselves,  a  passage  from 
Humboldt's  Cosmos  (I.  207),  where  he  speaks  of  the 
northern  liglit :  ^'  This  phenomenon  derives  most  of 
its  importance  from  the  fact,  that  the  earth  becomes 
self-luminous,  and  that  in  the  capacity  of  a  planet, 
besides  the  light  which  it  receives  from  the  central 
body,  the  sun,  it  shows  itself  capable,  in  itself,  of 
developing  light.  The  intensity  of  the  terrestrial  light 
exceeds  somewhat,  in  cases  of  the  brightest  colored 
radiation  toward  the  zenith,  the  light  of  the  moon 


430  CONFLICT   AND    HARMONY. 

in  its  first  quarter.  Occasionally  printed  characters 
have  been  read  by  this  light,  without  difficulty.  This 
almost  uninterrupted  terrestrial  development  of  light 
in  the  polar  regions  of  the  earth,  leads  us  to  the  in- 
teresting phenomenon  presented  by  Venus.  The 
portion  of  this  planet  which  is  not  illumined  by  the 
sun,  often  shines  w^ith  a  phosporescent  light  of  its 
own.  It  is  not  improbable  that  the  moon,  Jupiter, 
and  the  comets,  shine  with  a  light  of  their  own,  in 
addition  to  reflected  solar  light,  noticeable  as  such 
through  the  polariscope.  Without  speaking  of  the 
problematical  but  very  common  species  of  cloud- 
lightning,  in  wdiich  a  heavy,  lowering  cloud  may  be 
seen  to  shine  with  an  uninterrupted  flickering  light, 
for  many  minutes  together,  w^e  still  meet  with  other 
instances  of  terrestrial  development  of  light  in  our  at- 
mosphere." A.  Wagner  adds:  "  The  northern  light 
being  an  intermitting  phenomenon,  and  exhibiting 
to  us  a  change  from  light  to  darkness  independent  of 
the  sun,  w^e  may  find  in  it  an  analogy  to  a  similar 
change  occurring  upon  the  earth  before  the  creation 
of  the  sun."  And  Sehuhert  says  (Weltgeh.  p.  218): 
"  May  not  that  polar-light,  which  is  called  an  aurora 
of  the  north,  be  the  last  glimmering  light  of  a  de- 
parted age  of  the  w^orld,  in  w^hich  the  whole  earth 
was  enclosed  in  an  expanse  of  aerial  fluid,  from  which, 
through  the  agency  of  the  electro-magnetic  forces, 
streamed  forth  an  incomparably  greater  degree  of 
light,  accompanied  at  the  same  time  with  animating 
warmth,  almost  in  a  similar  mode  to  what  still  oc- 
curs in  the  luminous  atmosphere  of  our  sun  ?  " 
Let  us  not,  how^ever,  be  understood  from  the  fore- 


LIGHT    BEFORE    THE    SUN.  431 

going,  to  assert  that  that  ]ight  which,  according  to 
the  Mosaic  account,  was  created  before  the  sun  was 
formed  to  serve  the  earth  in  the  capacity  it  now  does, 
was  a  northern  light,  or  even  merely  a  phenomenon 
related  to  the  northern  light.  ISTo  :  we  desire  only  to 
show  that  even  yet,  since  the  establishment  of  the 
relation  which  now  exists  between  the  sun  and  the 
earth,  the  latter  still  possesses  in  itself  a  capacity  of 
developing  light ;  and  that  there  is  nothing  to  pre- 
vent us  from  ascribing  to  it  pnor  to  that  point  of 
time,  the  same  capacity  in  a  degree  much  greater 
and  vastly  more  magnificent  and  effective. 

It  is  not  pretended  that  those  inherent  powers  of 
producing  light  which  manifest  themselves  in  the 
earth,  are  either  numerous  enough  or  strong  enough 
to  develop  a  light  wholly  equal  to  that  of  the  three 
first  days,  which  appears  to  have  been  strong  enough 
for  the  orio-ination  of  the  vesretable  kino^dom  of  the 
third  day.  Consequently,  it  must  be  assumed  that 
the  first  and  provisional  production  of  light,  was 
essentially  the  same  as  that  which  is  now  brought 
about  through  the  influence  of  the  sun  upon  the 
earth.  So  long  as  the  present  existing  relation 
between  sun  and  planet  was  not  yet  ordained  and 
established,  the  powers  of  exciting  light,  which  ever 
since  have  belonged  to  the  sun,  may  have  dwelt  in 
the  planetary  bodies  themselves  also,  producing  very 
much  their  proper  and  corresponding  effects.  ]^ot 
until  the  fourth  epoch  of  development,  when  the 
bodies  of  our  system  had  progressed  so  far  in  their 
individual  development,  that  a  positive  and  perma- 
nent relation  could  be  established  between  them. 


432  CONFLICT   AND    HARMONY. 

was  it  possible  that  the  polar  opposition  between  son 
and  planet  should  discover  itself,  in  which  the  sun, 
perhaps  on  account  of  the  preponderance  of  its  mass 
and  gravity,  summoned  to  itself  and  retained  the 
potvers  of  developing  light 

The  facts  of  astronomy  appear  very  well  to  har- 
monize with  this  view,  as  the  body  of  the  sun  itself 
is  found  to  be  dark,  and  of  a  planetary  nature,  and  its 
light-producing  power,  to  dwell  in  the  photosphere 
which  surrounds  it.  Not  the  creation  and  fashion- 
ing of  the  bod^  of  the  sun,  but  the  formation  of  this 
photosphere,  or  the  concentration  about  the  planet- 
ary sphere,  of  the  previousty-created  but  heretofore 
diffused  agency  for  the  production  of  light,  probably 
marked  the  point  of  progress  attained  on  the  fourth 
day. 

§  5.  The  Creation  of  the  Fixed  Stars  before  the  Earth, 

A  fresh  objection  is  founded  upon  the  alleged 
representation  of  the  Hexsemeron,  that  all  the  starry 
worlds  should  have  been  first  created  on  the  fourth 
day,  subsequently  to  the  complete  formation  of  the 
earth.  It  is  in  itself  unreasonable,  it  is  said,  that  we 
should  ascribe  priority  in  time  to  the  earth,  which  is 
but  a  subordinate  member  of  the  solar  system,  in 
preference  to  the  sun  which  rules  both  the  earth  and 
all  its  brother  and  sister  planets.  But  this  Biblical 
representation  in  regard  to  the  fixed  stars  amounts 
to  an  absurdity,  when  viewed  in  the  light  of  modern 
astronomy,  especially  when  it  is  taken  in  connection 
with  the  chronology  of  the  Bible.  The  earth  to 
have  been  created  before  the  fixed  stars  !  and  still  it 


FIXED  STARS  BEFORE  THE  EARTH.    433 

not  in  existence  some  six  thousand  years  ago  !  But 
does  not  astronomy  teach  that  the  stars  nearest  our 
system  could  not  be  seen  within  less  than  from  eight 
to  twelve  years  after  their  creation  ?  and  stars  of  the 
twelfth  magnitude  not  within  less  than  4000  years  ! 
Consequently,  then,  the  starry  masses  of  the  Milky- 
Way,  scarcely  resolvable  or  wholly  incapable  of  reso- 
lution by  the  best  telescopes,  and  the  nebulae,  must 
have  been  created  thousand  upon  thousands,  yea, 
perhaps  millions  of  years  before  their  light  could 
have  reached  the  regions  of  space  traversed  by  our 
earth,  (comp.  chap.  5,  §  6,  13.)  But,  instead  of  their 
light  having  just  now  become  visible  upon  the  earth, 
has  it  not  even  as  far  back  as  human  recollection 
extends,  shone  in  just  the  same  measure  it  does  now  ? 

"We  shall  not  open  our  defence  of  the  Biblical 
cosmology  or  chronology  by  attempting  to  combat 
these  dicta  of  astronomy,  although  it  is  by  no  means 
so  certain  that  a  ray  of  light,  which  in  the  ether  of 
our  planetary  system  is  limited  to  a  motion  of  merely 
192,000  miles  "in  a  whole  long  second,"  is  every- 
where in  the  universe  confined  to  the  same  "  snail's 
pace."  For,  even  could  w^e  make  up  our  mind  to 
undergo  the  disagreeable  necessity  of  having  to 
claim  a  ten,  a  hundred,  or  perhaps  even  a  thousand- 
fold greater  velocity  for  light  in  the  supra-planetary 
regions  of  space,  still  the  idea  that  the  earth  was 
really  created  before  the  fixed  stars,  would  meet  with 
many  other  not  less  formidable  difficulties. 

Let  us  rather  take  the  assertions  of  astronomy 
without  any  hesitation,  leaving  it  to  that  science 
itself,  w^hose  office  it  is,  to  establish  or  combat  all 
37 


434  CONFLICT   AND   HARMONY. 

possible  doubts  which  may  arise  as  to  the  correctness 
of  these  assertions.  Let  us  here  also  see  if  we  may 
rather  seek  the  cause  of  the  pretended  contradiction, 
in  an  erroneous  apprehension  of  the  Biblical  account, 
than  in  the  errors  of  astronomical  science.  We  have 
already  found  (chap.  4,  §  8),  as  the  result  of  an  exe- 
gesis made  without  prepossession,  that  the  Mosaic 
account  of  the  creation  confines  itself  exclusively  to 
the  earth  and  its  appurtenances ;  that  it  is  only  from 
this  point  of  view  and  from  this  motive  that  the  sun, 
the  moon,  and  the  stars,  are  included  in  the  repre- 
sentation of  Sacred  Writ ;  and  that  the  latter  does 
not  treat  of  their  creation  as  such,  but  merely  of  the 
creative  influence  by  which  they  became  what  they 
were  to  be  in  their  relation  to  the  earth.  But  whether 
these  two  points,  which  in  itself  is  a  thing  not  at  all 
impossible,  were  identical  in  point  of  time,  or  diverse, 
was  a  question  which  had  to  remain  undetermined 
in  the  interpretation  of  the  record. 

But  that  which  is  left  undetermined  in  the  Mosaic 
history  of  the  creation,  is  placed  beyond  all  doubt  at 
a  later  stage  of  revelation.  The  Book  of  Job,  for 
example,  as  we  have  already  seen  (chap.  5,  §  17), 
puts  the  assertion  in  the  mouth  of  God  himself, 
that  the  stars  were  present  as  admiring  witnesses 
and  jubilant  spectators,  when  the  foundations  of  the 
earth  were  laid.  If,  therefore,  the  Biblical  view 
touching  this  point  be  asked  for,  it  must  be  main- 
,  tained  that  priority  in  time  in  the  stars  over  the  earth, 
is  a  veritable  and  clearly  expressed  point  in  the 
Sacred  record,  and  that  the  Bible  and  Astronomy 
here  at  least  strikingly  coincide.     The  Bible  refers 


FIXED  STARS  BEFORE  THE  EARTH.   435 

US  clearly  enough,  both  in  the  passage  mentioned, 
and  also  by  many  other  hints  and  indications,  to 
which  we  have  already  in  the  fourth  chapter  given 
sufficient  attention,  to  a  two-fold  creation,  in  which 
the  creation  or  rather  the  new-creation  of  the  earth, 
takes  the  second  place  in  point  of  time,  against  which 
astronomy  will  assuredly  find  nothing  to  object.^ 

^  A  point  distantly  related  to  our  object  in  connection  with 
the  above  question,  may  here  be  presented  in  the  words  of  a 
celebrated  French  investigator  in  the  domain  of  nature.  Marcel 
de  Serres  says,  in  his  work  de  la  creation  de  la  terre  et  des 
corps  celestes,  Paris,  1843,  p.  17 :  "  S'il  n'y  avait  eu  qu'une 
seule  creation,  on  devrait  voir  chaque  annee,  presque  chaque 
jour,  apparaitre  de  nouvelles  nSbuleuses  au  milieu  de  la  voie 
lactee.  L'observation  est  loin  de  confirmer  cette  continuelle 
ttpparition,  et  qui  prouve,  que  cette  derni^re  supposition  est  tout 
a  fait  gratuite.  Le  nombre  de  ces  nebuleuses  ne  s'accroit  que 
par  la  puissance  des  telescopes  ou  des  lunettes,  que  les  astronomes 
emploient  pour  les  decouvrirau  milieu  de  Fimmensite  de  I'espace. 
Du  reste,  si  cette  hypothese,  tout  ^  fait  contraire  au  systeme  d'une 
creation  primitive  et  d'une  organisation  posterieure  des  corps 
celestes  qui  en  aurait  ete  I'objet,  etait  exacte,  le  spectacle  que  le 
ciel  aurait  presente  aux  premiers  ages  du  monde,  k  Adam  et  h. 
ses  descendants,  aurait  ete  aussi  extraordinaire  que  singulier. 
Le  premier  homme  n'aurait  pas  vu,  lors  de  sa  venue  sur  la  terre, 
une  seule  etoile  au  ciel ;  le  soleil,  la  lune  et  les  plan^tes  auraient 
ete  les  seules  astres,  qu'il  y  auraient  apper^us  et  dont  il  aurait 
Joui  pendant  les  premieres  six  annees.  Au  del4  de  cette  epoque, 
les  etoiles  auraient  commence  a  apparaitre  successivement  et 
dans  un  ordre  inverse  de  leur  distance  k  la  terre.  La  voie  lactee 
n'aurait  done  presente  Faspect,  qu'elle  offre  actucllement  qu'au 
del'cl  d'un  certain  nombres  de  siecles.  Enfin  aujourd'hui  encore 
des  Etoiles  et  des  nebuleuses  devraient  se  montrer  pour  la  pre- 
miere fuis  dans  le  ciel.  II  faut  I'avouer,  de  pareilles  consequences 
sent  tout  a  fait  inadmissibles ;  d^s  lors  on  est  en  droit  de  rejeter 
la  supposition  qui  y  a  donne  lieu.  La  creation  des  etoiles  et  des 
nebuleuses  a  done  precede  la  creation  de  I'homme  actuel  d'ua 


436  CONFLICT   AND   IIAEMONY. 

As  it  has  further  been  objected,  that  it  is  taking  a 
very  narrow  view,  and  one  unworthy  of  Divine  reve- 
lation, for  the  Mosaic  record  to  represent  the  stars  as 
having  been  created  merely  for  the  purpose  of  casting 
their  scanty,  flickering  light  amid  the  thick  darkness 
of  the  earth,  it  may  be  well  for  us  to  observe  that  the 
complaint  is  chargeable  to  an  interpolated  '^  merely,'' 
of  which  the  record  is  wholly  innocent.  It  is  doing 
unpardonable  violence  to  the  author's  meaning  to 
maintain,  in  the  face  of  the  unequivocal  design  of  the 
record  to  mention  only  that  which  was  of  signi- 
ficance to  the  earth,  that  he  really  did  believe  all  the 
starry  worlds  were  created  for  no  other  purpose  than 
to  give  light  to  the  earth  and  adorn  its  nights.  But 
if  any  one  seriously  maintain  that  such  a  purpose 
would  be  too  insignificant  and  unimportant  to  claim 
notice  in  the  Biblical  geogony,  we  w^ould  merely  in- 
quire of  him,  if  the  thought  has  never  yet  suggested 
itself  to  him,  when  gazing  on  the  splendor  of  the 
nocturnal  heavens,  how  much  x)f  comfort  and  delight 
we  poor  inhabitants  of  the  earth  owe  to  the  mere 
outward  manifestation  of  these  celestial  bodies. 

§  6.   The  Creation  of  the  Planetary  System. 

It  is  further  said,  that  the  connection  of  all  the 
planets  of  our  solar  system,  as  well  as  the  similarity 

grand  nombres  de  siecles.  On  est  ainsi  amene,  comme  forcement, 
k  admettre  deux  epoques  bien  distinctes  dans  la  creation  :  la  pre- 
miere ou  la  plus  ancienne  est  celle  aii  Fensemble  des  corps  celes- 
tes est  sorti  du  neant  a  la  voix  du  Createur ;  la  seconde,  bien  pos- 
terieure,  serait  celle  o\i  le  soleil,  les  planetes  et  particuli^rement 
la  terre  ont  recu  leur  organisation  definitive  et  sont  parvenus  h. 
leur  6tat  actuel." 


CREATION   OF   PLANETARY   SYSTEM.         437 

of  tlieir  physical  constitution  and  their  reference  to 
the  sun,  points  unmistakably  to  the  fact  that  their 
origin  was  a  common  one,  both  with  respect  to  the 
matter  out  of  which  they  were  formed,  and  also  to 
the  time  when  they  were  individualized  and  finished. 
This  we  readily  admit.  But  when  it  is  further  argued, 
that  this  supposition  is  neither  acknowledged  nor 
alloAved  by  the  Mosaic  history  of  the  creation ;  and 
that  the  latter  here  speaks  of  the  formation  of  the 
earth,  and  there  of  the  formation  of  the  sun,  moon, 
aud  stars,  as  though  wholly  independent  of  each 
other,  the  earth  being  completed  and  furnished  with 
its  mountains  and  valleys,  continents  and  oceans,  be- 
fore the  others  were  made — when  all  this  is  done, 
we  must  enter  our  most  decided  protest.  The  object 
of  the  record.  Gen.  1.,  is  to  convey  to  our  minds 
merely  an  account  of  the  process  through  which  the 
earth  arrived  at  its  present  state,  to  tell  us  how  it  was 
prepared  as  a  place  of  abode  and  activity  for  man. 
The  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  are  first  mentioned  in  it, 
where  they  begin  to  play  a  part  in  the  history  of  the 
gradually  improving  earth  ;  and  claim  attention 
merely  in  so  far  as  they  do  this.  The  record  was 
not  designed  to  tell,  neither  could  it  or  should  it 
have  told,  whether  the  earth,  the  sun,  the  rest  of  the 
planets,  and  the  satellites,  were  formed  out  of  the 
same  original  matter,  nor  any  more,  whether  the 
individualization  of  these  various  bodies  was  simul- 
taneous, their  individual  completion  being  subse- 
quently eftected  side  by  side.  That  such  was  the  case 
seems  at  least  probable,  in  the  light  of  astronomy. 
With  respect  to  the  view  to  be  drawn  from  astro- 
37  * 


438  CONFLICT   AND    HARMONY. 

nomical  investigations  and  reasonings,  touching  tlie 
probable  mode  of  origin  of  the  planetary  system,  and 
the  bearing  of  this  mode  on  the  Biblical  account  of 
the  creation,  we  shall  recur  to  what  has  already  been 
said  on  this  subject,  in  chapter  5,  §  5,  for  further 
elucidation  of  the  question.  It  was  there  discovered, 
that  astronomy  itself  is  wholly  unable  to  say  any- 
thing on  the  subject;  and  that  all  theories  which 
speculation  has  built  up  on  the  grounds  of  astrono- 
mical observation,  or  may  yet  build  up,  lack  any 
solid  or  satisfactory  foundation. 

Still,  however,  we  have  regarded  it  as  not  out  of 
place  to  devote  a  note  to  the  theory  of  Laplace,  the 
most  plausible  and  interesting  of  these  theories;  and 
a  word  or  two  may  be  added  in  regard  to  the  ques- 
tion whether,  granting  the  correctness  of  this  theory, 
something  neither  yet  proven  nor  capable  of  proof, 
it  may  be  harmonized  with  the  1st  chapter  of  Genesis. 

It  will,  however,  be  immediately  discovered,  on  a 
mere  hasty  comparison  of  the  two,  that  the  Bible 
leaves  room  enough  for  this,  as  for  all  similar  theories, 
and  conversely,  that  no  such  theories  can  in  a  single 
point  contradict  the  teachings  of  the  Biblical  record; 
for  the  Bible  never  enters  upon  the  question  whether 
the  bodies  of  our  system  were  formed  out  of  the 
same  common  original  matter,  and  if  so,  how  their 
formation  was  effected;  but  rather,  at  first  mention^ 
represents  them  as  proceeding  forth  from  the  hand 
of  their  Creator  as  worlds  already  individualized.^ 

*  Genesis  1  :  1. 

^  G.  H.  V.  Schubert,  proceeding  to  carry  out  the  view  deduced 
from  Scripture,  that  the  domain  of  the  world  to  which  our  earth 


CELESTIAL    WORLDS    INHABITED.       439 

§  7.   The  Celestial  Worlds  in  general  Inhabited. 

Intimately  connected  with,  the  ahove-mentioned 
pretext,  that  the  Bible,  in  opposition  to  all  sound  hu- 
man reason,  should  teach  that  the  sun,  the  moon, 
and  the  stars  have  no  significance  in  any  other  direc- 

belongs  was  the  scene  of  a  history  of  the  most  comprehensive  re- 
lations and  important  consequences,  prior  to  the  creation  of  man 
(corap.  chap.  4,  g  20  25),  concludes  {Weltgeh.  559-565)  that  pro- 
bably in  this,  the  first  great  period  of  its  existence,  this  domain 
of  the  universe  may  have  been  represented  by  a  single  and  unique 
astral  formation,  vrhich  only  since  the  catastrophe  vehich  brought 
the  history  of  this  period  to  an  end  —  or  rather,  upon  that  second 
creation  which  prepared  it  for  a  new  and  no  less  important  and 
influential  phase  of  history  —  was  separated  into  different  indi- 
vidual bodies,  but  connected  and  harmoniously  adjusted  into  one 
complete  system.  He  imagines  that  it  was  similar  in  the  first 
period  of  its  existence,  to  the  planetary  nebulae  with  a  dense  nu- 
cleus, the  photospheres  of  which  extend  themselves  to  the  circum- 
ference of  millions,  yea,  billions  of  miles  (chap.  5,  ^  13).  "  Such 
an  astral  photosphere  may  have  contained  a  fulness  of  elements 
sufficient  for  the  formation  of  altogether  other  worlds  than  our 
small  earth ;  for  had  it  the  size  of  even  the  smallest  planetary 
nebulae  revealed  to  us  as  such  by  the  telescope,  it  must  fill  a  much 
greater  space  than  does  our  present  solar  system,  including  the 

orbits  of  all  its  planets  and  comets It  is  to  be  supposed 

that  the  primeval  photosphere  of  the  earth  was  also  the  special 
abode,  not  only  of  the  forces  of  the  electro-magnetic  species,  but 
of  the  higher  primary  forces  of  life,  with  corresponding  forms  and 
movements It  gives  light  and  warmth  to  the  nucleus  be- 
neath it ;  it  is  the  more  essential  part  of  the  star.  The  star  itself, 
as  the  inner  solid  mass  of  a  planet,  does  indeed  form  the  support- 
ing centre,  binding  the  lighter  substance  of  the  envelope  or  photo- 
sphere to  itself,  by  the  force  of  its  gravity :  but  this  envelope  is 
related  to  the  nucleus,  as  the  surface  of  the  planet,  upon  which 
alone  organic  life  dwells  and  flourishes,  is  to  the  inorganic  basis 
upon  which  it  rests The  sacred  record  speaks  primarily 


440  CONFLICT   AND   HARMONY. 

tion,  and  no  office,  but  to  give  light  to  the  earth, 
there  is  to  he  found  another  objection.  Such  a  view, 
it  is  said,  woukl  do  away  with  the  supposition  that 
the  rest  of  the  celestial  bodies  are  inhabited  by  rea- 
sonable, spiritual  beings,  endowed  with  existence  for 
their  own  sakes.  The  Biblical  theory  of  the  world, 
it  is  maintaned,  is  so  narrow  and  inadequate  as  to 

of  the  days'  works  in  that  new  creation  of  things,  in  which  man 
appears  as  the  last  and  highest  creation,  on  the  eve  of  the  Sab- 
bath. The  measure  of  time  first  begins  with  him  and  his  history; 
the  succession  of  years  is  first  introduced  by  the  formation  of  the 
sun  and  a  heaven  of  planets  from  the  primeval  photosphere  belong- 
ing to  our  domain  of  the  universe.  As  to  the  history  of  the  prin- 
cipality and  powers  of  the  preceding  period,  and  their  influence 
upon  those  works  which  were  preparatory  to  the  decree  of  the  fur- 
ther future,  that  shall  never  be  taught  in  time,  nor  understood  in 
time."  —  We  have  nothing  to  object  against  this  view,  yet  think 
we  are  justified  in  pointing  to  other  formations  of  the  astral  hea- 
vens which  perhaps  may  with  equally  good  reason  be  regarded  as 
analogies  to  the  original  condition  of  our  domain  of  the  universe. 
"VVe  refer  to  the  closely-connected  and  related  families  of  the  double 
and  multiple  stars  (chap.  5,  ^  11),  or  even  to  the  presence  of  dark, 
extinguished  bodies  (chap.  5,  ^  12)  involved  in  the  orbits  of  resplen- 
dent suns,  as  seems  so  probable  from  the  indications  of  the  latest 
astronomical  observations.  Perhaps  this  region  of  the  world  was 
originally  represented  by  such  a  closely-related  family  of  difierent 
individuals,  whose  primeval  harmony  and  glory  were  destroyed 
by  some  great  catastrophe,  and  restored  again  in  another  and  pe- 
culiar manner  through  the  new  creation  of  the  six  days ;  or  per- 
haps it  was  occupied  by  a  double  star,  one  member  of  which  was 
destroyed  and  broken  up  by  that  catastrophe,  thus  furnishing  the 
substance  for  the  formation  of  the  planets  and  comets  of  our  sys- 
tem, the  relation  of  which  to  the  sun  was  again  established  in  a 
peculiar  manner  on  the  fourth  day  of  the  Hexgcmeron.  —  The 
Scriptures  are  silent  here,  leaving  the  widest  room  to  the  play  of 
conjecture. 


CELESTIAL    WORLDS    INHABITED.       441 

represent  the  earth  only  as  inhabited ;  life  and  activ- 
ity, history  and  development,  here  only  to  manifest 
themselves ;  while  assuredly  the  simplest  common 
sense  forces  upon  us  the  irresistible  conviction,  that 
the  countless  celestial  worlds,  some  of  which,  as  may 
be  shown,  possess  a  like  nature  and  a  like  cosmical 
position  and  importance  with  the  globe  we  inhabit, 
but  by  far  the  most  of  which  infinitely  surpass  our 
poor  earth  in  outward  extent,  as  well  as  in  inner 
significance,  in  glory  and  dignity,  must  also  in  the 
same  degree  be  the  theatre  of  like  and  infinitely 
higher  manifestations  of  created  life  and  activity. 

But  this  objection  is  completely  overthrown  by  an 
acknowledgment  of  the  fact,  that  the  Bible,  while  it 
does  indeed  regard  the  stars  as  dispensers  of  light  to 
the  earth,  does  by  no  means  exclude  the  idea  that 
they  may,  in  themselves,  be  objects  of  infinitely 
higher  significance  and  design  than  the  earth. 

We  find  our  minds  somehow  deeply  possessed  of 
the  idea,  that  wherever  there  are  worlds  there  is  to 
be  found  a  proper  place  for  the  life  and  activity  of 
spiritual  beings ;  and  neither  faith  nor  philosophy, 
when  not  led  astray  by  narrow  or  false  views  of 
Scripture,  or  blinded  by  a  Pantheistic  deification  of 
the  human  mind,  will  find  itself  able  to  imagine  the 
countless  hosts  of  the  celestial  worlds  as  wholly  un- 
inhabited. It  is  to  sound  human  reason  we  owe  this 
lesson — not  to  astronomy,  which  with  the  greatest 
extension  and  closeness  of  its  observations,  will  in 
all  probability  never  be  able  to  discern  the  evidences 
of  created  life  in  the  moon  even,  the  nearest  of  the 
celestial  bodies ;  and  hence  cannot  claim  the  right  to 


442  CONFLICT   AND   HARMONY. 

say  a  word  as  to  whether  the  stars  are  inhabited  or 
not.  "We  may  seek  to  prop  up  so  meagre  a  theory 
of  the  world  as  the  one  we  oppose,  with  any  number 
of  analogies;  we  may  take  for  example,  if  you 
choose,  the  favorite  one  of  a  royal  saloon,  with  its 
thousand  brilliant  lights  and  profusion  of  costly 
articles,  not  of  immediate  service,  but  merely  used 
to  set  off  the  glory  and  majesty  of  the  king;  still  this 
as  all  other  pseudo-analogies  will  have  no  effect  upon 
the  mind  uncultivated  perhaps,  but  possessed  of  com- 
mon sense  and  unprejudiced,  upon  the  creed  that 
grows  out  of  the  depths  of  faith  and  reason. 

It  is  one  and  the  same  God  who  sits  enthroned  in 
the  heavens  and  displays  His  omnipotence  and  omni- 
presence here  upon  the  earth ;  a  God  who  upholds 
all  the  systems  of  worlds,  and  sustains  the  mote  in 
a  sunbeam ;  a  God  of  life^  who  everywhere  that  the 
tread  of  his  foot  is  seen,  or  his  breath  felt,  calls  forth 
an  abundance  of  life.  If  it  be  true  that  our  poor 
earth  is  inhabited,  from  man  who  walks  with  counte- 
nance erect,  to  the  veriest  worm  of  the  dust ;  that  a 
drop  of  water,  a  grain  of  sand,  or  a  leaf  of  the  forest, 
contains  a  whole  world  of  living  beings — if  it  be 
true  that  the  whole  restless  sea  of  living  organisms 
which  manifests  itself  in  millions  of  varied  forms 
upon  the  earth,  finds  its  unique  completion  and  end 
only  in  that  being  endowed  with  reason  and  the  capa- 
city to  know  and  praise  his  Creator,  in  man  alone,  a 
mediator  between  it  and  Him  for  whose  glory  it  was 
created  —  how  can  it  be  that  yonder  starry  choirs 
should  be  devoid  of  life,  that  we  should  not  there 
expect  to  find  fresh  domains  of  life  and  spiritual 


ANGELS    AND    FIXED    STARS.  443 

movement,  self-conscious  and  free  creatures,  endowed 
with  capacities  to  know,  to  praise,  and  to  adore  their 
Creator  ? 

It  is  untrue  that  the  Bible  excludes  the  supposition, 
that  the  stars,  too,  are  inhabited  by  corresponding 
personal  beings, — yea,  even  more  than  that,  it  even 
contains,  as  we  have  already  seen  (chap.  4,  §  23),  de- 
terminate and  almost  unmistakable  references  to  the 
fact,  at  least  positive  intimations,  that  the  celestial 
spheres  ^  are  really  inhabited.  The  Scriptures  regard 
the  heavens,  and  of  course,  all  the  single  worlds 
which  help  to  make  up  the  heavens,  as  the  abode 
of  countless  hosts  of  spiritual  creatures,  called  in 
general  terms,  angels,  and  represented  as  the  messen- 
gers and  servants  of  God,  as  those  who  execute  his 
will  and  join  in  anthems  of  praise  and  adoration  to 
the  glory  and  majesty  of  Deity.  And  in  one  passage 
at  least,^  these  holy  and  blessed  spirits  of  the  celes- 
tial regions  are  placed  in  such  close  relation  not  to 
the  heavens  in  general,  but  to  the  concrete,  individual 
celestial  worlds,  that  our  view  of  the  matter  as  here- 
tofore expressed,  that  the  angels  inhabit  these  worlds, 
seems  fully  justified. 

§  8.  The  Angels  as  the  Inhabitants  of  the  Fixed  Stars. 

Astronomy  does  not  and  cannot  teach  us  any  thing 
concerning  the  nature  and  destiny  of  the  spiritual 

^  We  speak  primarily  of  the  heavens  of  the  fixed  stars  only. 
Much  more  difficult  and  doubtful  is  the  question,  hereafter  to  be 
considered,  whether  we  are  to  imagine  the  rest  of  the  bodies  of 
our  solar  system  inhabited,  and  if  so,  by  what  species  of  beings  ? 
(Comp.  §  10). 

2  Job  38. 


444  CONFLICT   AND   HARMONY. 

iiihabifants  of  the  stars,  as  predicated  upon  the  general 
grounds  of  philosophico-religious  reasonings ;  while 
it  opens  to  us  a  few  glances  into  the  physical  consti- 
tution of  these  bodies,  however  incomplete  and  mea- 
gre these  may  be.  The  Bible,  on  the  other  hand,  was 
designed  only  and  is  able  only  to  teach  us  religious 
truth ;  but  nothing  touching  the  nature  and  consti- 
tution of  the  stars.  But  still  it  does  contain  intima- 
tions which  lead  us  fairly  to  the  supposition,  that 
these  very  stars  of  the  firmament  are  the  abodes  of 
the  angels.  Harmony  or  conflict  between  the  Bible 
and  astronomy,  can  therefore,  on  this  point,  depend 
alone  upon  the  agreement  or  non-agreement  of  the 
physical  constitution  of  the  stars,  as  taught  us,  or 
rather  (vaguely  enough)  conjectured  by  astronomy, 
with  the  nature  of  the  angels  as  represented  in  the 
Scriptures — upon  the  fitness  or  unfitness  of  the  ma- 
terial abode  for  the  spirit  which  is  to  inhabit  it. 

Since  astronomy,  enriched  by  the  magnificent  in- 
vestigations and  views  of  Herschel,  has  entered  upon 
a  new  and  healthful  path  of  development,  it  has  left 
behind  those  old  and  narrow  hypotheses  of  a  mono- 
tonous repetition  in  all  regions,  of  the  order  and 
arrano:ement  which  obtain  amidst  the  bodies  com- 
posing  our  solar  system,  and  of  the  reproduction 
everywhere  of  a  physical  constitution  similar  to  that 
impressed  upon  this  system. 

The  constitution  of  nature  is  wholly  difierent  in 
the  celestial  worlds,  and  the  latter  bear  difierent  and 
higher  relations  toward  each  other — hence  the  beings 
which  inhabit  these  worlds  must  be  of  a  difierent 
species,  and  altogether  differently  constituted,  and 


ANGELS    AND    FIXED    STARS.  445 

must  possess  a  different  calling  and  destiny,  diflerent 
capacities  and  duties  from  ours. 

Modern  astronomical  results  liave  not  indeed 
shown  it  to  be  strictly  impossible,  but  still,  improba- 
ble, that  the  glowing  w^orlds  of  the  fixed  stars  should 
be  suns  precisely  like  the  sun  of  our  system,  having 
like  it  dark,  solid,  planetary  central  bodies,  and  being 
accompanied  by  secondary  bodies  dependent  upon 
them  for  light  and  heat.  They  too,  indeed,  have — 
at  least  some  of  them — their  faithful  companions ; 
but  the  association  there  involved  is  not  conditioned 
by  the  despotic  sway  of  mere  physical  force,  but 
through  the  bonds  of  close  affinity  and  mutual  sym- 
pathy; not  through  subordination,  but  rather  through 
co-ordination ;  for  there  we  behold  as  it  were,  suns 
circling  about  suns,  one  glorious  sphere  about  an- 
other, its  equal  in  kind  and  prerogative,  however 
different  in  brilliancy  or  extent.  To  all  appearance 
there  does  not  there  exist  that  physically  opposite, 
or  sexual  character,  as  it  might  be  called,  of  the 
world's  organism,  which  here  manifests  itself  in  the 
contrast  between  the  solar  and  the  planetary  princi- 
ple, as  that  which  on  the  one  hand  excites  and  im- 
parts, and  on  the  other  is  excited  and  receives.  We 
there  no  longer  find  that  marked  characteristic  of 
mass  and  of  gravity  which  here  rules  and  bears  sw^ay: 
nor  do  we  there  observe  that  alternation  of  light  and 
darkness  we  here  experience  ;  there  is  then  no  night 
to  break  in  upon  the  life  and  activity  of  those  spheres, 
nor  frost  nor  winter  to  benumb  their  energies. 

But,  although  those  celestial  worlds  are  not  posses- 
sed of  those  coarse,  material  characteristics  which 
38 


446  CONFLICT   AND   HARMONY. 

eveiywliere  meet  our  eyes  here  below,  it  by  no  means 
follows  that  they  are  immaterial :  although  the  con- 
test and  the  change  which  are  here  carried  on  between 
light  and  darkness,  do  not  extend  into  those  regions, 
it  does  not  hence  follow  that  light  there  fails  of  a 
corresponding   substance   to   which   it  may   attach 
itself,  and  thus  arrive  at  a  fixed  character  and  full 
intensity.     There  materiality  is  merely  not  limited 
to  the  characteristics  of  passive,  dead  matter  only ; 
and  light  and  darkness  are  not  there  hostile  to  each 
other,  but  rather,  like  the  body  and  the  soul,  pervade 
each  other  in  a  true  and  complete  union.     We  may 
appeal  to  the  fact  that  even  in  the  single,  but  espe- 
cially in  the  double  stars,  a  province  of  colors  dis- 
plays   itself,    "rivaling  in    beauty  and  variety  the 
flowers  of   spring,  or  the  wings  of  the  butterfly." 
Color  is  light  manifesting  itself  through  darkness, 
and  thus  attaining  a  determinate  quality  and  in- 
tensity of  brilliancy :  it  is  a  vital  union  of  the  two. 
"While  in  our  planetary  system,"  says  a  profound 
thinker,'  "sun  and  planet  —  light  and  darkness  —  as 
such,  are  distinct  and  separate,  abstracted  from  each 
other,  forming  a  totality  in  a  mere  outward  respect, 
they  are  in  the  celestial  regions  intimately  united 
and  pervaded  by  each  other.    .    .    .    Thus  does  each 
part  become  the  whole,  and  yet  remain  on  the  whole." 
Here  harmonious  unity  resolves  itself  into  conflict- 
ing contrasts :  night  contends  with  day,  light  with 
darkness,  heat  with  cold,  death  with  life,  and  the  body 
with  the  soul.   But  there  all  contrasts  are  reconciled  : 

'  C.  Fr.  Goschel,   Unterhaltungen  zur  Schildemng   Gcethescher 
Denk-  und  Dichtweise,  vol.  3,  p.  192,  Schlesingen,  1838. 


ANGELS    AND    FIXED    STARS.  447 

liglit  raid  shade,  day  and  night,  are  intimately  united ; 
the  one  shining  through  the  other,  the  soul  animating 
tiie  body.  There  we  find  no  alternation  of  light  and 
darkness :  a  million  suns  at  the  same  time  shed  forth 
the  radiant  light  of  an  eternal  day,  yet  so  mildly  as 
to  avoid  excess  of  heat  no  less  than  destructive  cold. 
The  dark  material  structure  is  pervaded  and  ani- 
mated by  a  higher  breath  of  life,  and  the  latter 
throuo:h  a  most  real  and  intimate  union  with  the 
former  attains  a  concrete  manifestation,  a  vital  exist- 
ence, a  harmonic  fulness  and  entireness.  For  every- 
thing living  and  real  is  "unity  amid  diversity,  union 
of  soul  and  body.  Light  becomes  color  through  the 
medium  of  darkness  only,  so  also  the  soul  manifests 
its  active  presence  through  the  medium  of  the  body 
only.  The  fruit  of  like  and  like  is  a  dead  produc- 
tion :  where  like  and  unlike  resolve  into  one,  there 
a  sweet  sound  is  produced."^ 

If,  therefore,  the  worlds  there,  instead  of  carrying 
heavily  through  their  orbits,  such  a  coarse  and  crude 
materiality  as  belongs  to  the  bodies  of  our  system, 
possess  a  physical  structure  infinitely  refined,  light, 
and  glorious,  and  hence  pursue  their  silent  and  ma- 
jestic courses  with  signal  freedom,  lightness  and 
ease,  "the  restless  and  ceaseless  workings  and 
counter-workings  of  our  powers  of  attraction  and 
repulsion,  which  cause  such  painful  swayings  to  and 
fro  between  friendship  and  hostility  amid  the  pon- 
derous bodies  of  the  solar  system,  must  certainly  find 
no  counterpart  among  those  celestial  worlds."  Here, 
in  the  cosmical  domain  w^e  inhabit,  the  laws  of  grav- 

»  Goschel,  p.  192. 


448  CONFLICT   AND   IIAKMONY. 

ity  bear  iron  rule :  the  force  of  gravitation  is  an 
outward,  despotic  power,  and  the  bodies  of  the  sys- 
tem are  held  together  by  it  alone :  without  it,  they 
w^ould  fall  to  pieces  and  become  utterly  demolished. 
The  same  law^  indeed,  obtains  among  the  celestial 
Avorlds ;  but  love,  wdiich  also  in  this  respect  may  be 
regarded  as  the  fulfilling  of  the  laiv,  shuts  out  slavish 
fear.  The  effect  is  the  same,  but  the  cause  is  differ- 
ent. The  categoric  imperative  of  physical  force 
exacts  not  a  slavish  obedience,  but  a  higher  will,  in 
which  freedom  and  necessity  have  become  one,  calls 
forth  similar  effects,  in  nobler  form  and  higher 
potency.  But  still,  other  forces  also  may  there  mani- 
fest themselves,  as  not  impossibly  the  magic  forces 
of  the  electro-magnetic  species,  which  with  the  rapid- 
ity of  thought  traverse  the  entire  earth ;  but  in  an 
inconceivably  more  imposing  manner  and  greater 
degree,  and  with  consequences  vastlj'  more  magni- 
ficent and  glorious.  Hence  "we  there  behold  one 
sun  fraternally  linked  to  another,  and  hosts  of  glori- 
ous worlds  peacefully  pursuing  their  courses,  held 
together  by  the  bonds  of  a  higher  relationship  than 
those  which  here  impel  one  ponderous  rock  upon 
another,  w^th  crushing  force."  ^  Mysterious  bonds 
of  sympathy  and  secret  affinity  must  indeed  bind 
those  worlds  together,  where  '■'  gravity  is  no  longer 
the  tendency  of  each  individual  to  seek  in  some  other 
material  structure  the  central  point  wanting  in  itself, 
but  the  free  impulse  which  centralizes  all  single 
'bodies,  all  single  central  points  with  each  other  in 
the  highest  centre."^ 

'  Schubert,  Weltgeh.,  p.  85.  2  Gcischcl,  p.  192. 


ANGELS    AND    FIXED    STAES.  449 

There  move  on  in  familiar  interconrse  and  associa- 
tion, thousands,  yea,  millions  of  celestial  worlds ; 
here  are  immense, immeasurable  wastes,  empty  celes- 
tial spaces,  insusceptible  of  the  illuminating,  heating, 
or  animating  influence  of  light,  and  filled  only  with 
the  blackest  night.  There  the  spaces  between  the 
diflerent  worlds  are  filled  up  with  intervening  ne- 
bulae, the  channels  and  highways,  as  it  were,  of  a 
communication  to  be  carried  on  with  the  speed  of  a 
celestial  electricity ;  here  are  impassable  and  all- 
devouring  gulphs ;  there  familiar  and  gladsome  inter- 
course ;  here  separation,  distance,  and  non-inter- 
course. "What  a  plenitude  of  life,  and  what  an 
energy  of  its  allotted  fuinctions,  must  there  unfold 
itself,  where  worlds  are  so  wondrously  crowded  to- 
gether, hold  such  lively  intercourse,  and  exert  such 
varied  reciprocal  influences  ;  while  at  the  same  time 
the  particular  agencies  of  any  individual  world,  are 
excited  and  strengthened  by  the  constant  influence 
of  countless  kindred  worlds !  And  what  a  variety 
of  formations,  what  a  rich  abundance  of  forms,  trans- 
formations and  renewals  are  indicated  by  the  incon- 
ceivable expansions  and  contractions  of  those  lumin- 
ous cosmical  masses,  their  volitalization  as  well  as 
their  condensation ;  by  the  variation  in  the  light  and 
brilliancy  of  the  stars,  as  well  as  the  reciprocal  rela- 
tions of  their  colors :  truly,  a  mobility  and  freshness 
of  life  of  which  we,  with  the  ideas  of  slowness  of 
motion,  weight,  and  vis  inertise  we  ever  attach  to 
material  bodies,  can  form  but  a  very  inadequate  con- 
ception !  And  whilst  most  of  the  changes  and  revo- 
38* 


450  CONFLICT   AND    HARMONY. 

lutions  which  occur  here  upou  the  earth,  are  dis- 
astrous, and  followed  by  suffering,  tears,  and  distress, 
the  revolutions  there  experienced  must  take  place  so 
gently  and  peaceably,  that  "  to  the  countless  myriads 
of  eyes  which  near  at  hand  behold  them,  and  carry 
on  their  functions  in  the  midst  of  them,  they  must 
be  despoiled  of  all  those  terrors  they  would  have  in 
this  terrestrial  sphere,  and  cost  no  tears  of  sorrow,  but 
rather,  if  weeping  be  possible  there,  tears  of  joy."  ^ 

But  what,  then,  are  we  to  imagine  the  inhabitants 
of  such  worlds  to  be  ?  If  the  principle  be  well- 
founded,  that  there  exists  every  where  throughout  the 
sphere  of  the  created,  the  same  connection  between 
abode  and  inhabitant,  as  between  body  and  soul, 
then  can  astronomy  throw  much  light  on  this  ques- 
tion. The  physical  world  we  inhabit  speaks  every- 
where, as  well  in  small  as  in  great  things,  of  bless- 
ing and  cursing,  of  love  and  hatred,  of  sorrow  and 
joy,  of  longings  and  hopings ;  and  a  deep  response  to 
its  tones  is  wakened  within  our  own  breasts,  as  we 
feel  that  nature  around  us  is  adapted  to  us  and  we  to 
it.  But  in  those  worlds  we  seek  in  vain  for  the 
ominous  shadows  of  sin  and  death ;  there  we  behold 
light  without  its  antagonistic  darkness,  life  without 
death,  harmony  without  strife  and  discord,  day  with- 
out night,  and  waking  without  sleeping.  Hence  they 
must  be  the  abodes  of  such  beings  as  are  altogether 
unacquained  with  sin  and  death  in  themselves,  and 
having  natures  not  requiring  the  alternation  of  light 
and  darkness,  of  day  and  night,  nor  visited  by  the 

1  Schubert,  Urwelt,  p.  108. 


ANGELS    AND    FIXED    STARS.  451 

cruel  changes  of  heat  and  cold  we  here  experience. 
Life,  which  here  displays  the  opposite  poles  of  gene- 
ration and  corruption,  birth  and  death,  is  there  unity 
and  fulness.  There  the  sexual  contrast,  the  opposi- 
tion of  the  solar  and  planetary  principles,  the  con- 
trast of  that  which  excites  and  that  which  is  excited, 
is  done  away  with ;  and  hence  it  is  there  we  may 
expect  to  find  the  exalted  sphere,  where  they  neither 
marry  nor  are  given  in  marriage.^  And  as  in  those 
worlds  the  planetary  " flesh-and-blood  structure"  of 
the  dark  and  crude  earth,  is  quickened  and  illumi- 
nated, rendered  clear  and  glorious,  as  instead  of 
physical  inertia  and  constancy  of  form,  we  behold 
the  greatest  aptitude  for  rapid  movement  and  the 
assumption  of  new  forms ;  so  also  must  we  deny  the 
inhabitants  of  those  worlds  bodies  of  an  opaque, 
flesh-and-blood  character,  such  as  that  by  which  our 
corporeal  frames  are  hopelessly  confined  to  the  surface 
of  the  earth,  and  the  soaring  flight  of  our  thoughts  so 
oppressed  and  crippled,  and  ascribe  to  them  a  refined, 
ethereal,  and  infinitely  mobile  corporeity,  capable  of 
renewal  and  rejuvenation,  ever  the  willing  servant 
of  the  indwelling  spirit,  and  adequate  to  all  the 
wants  and  exigencies  of  spiritual  life. 

But  such  holy  inhabitants  of  light  are  revealed  to 
us  in  the  Scriptures,  under  the  name  of  angels,  and 
are  placed  by  them  in  manifold  relation  to  the  celes- 
tial worlds,  so  that  here  science  significantly  coincides 
with  faith. 

'  Matt.  22  :  30. 


452  CONFLICT   AND   HARMONY. 

§  9.  Continuation. 

"We  shall  3^et  notice  a  few  objections  against  identi- 
fying the  fixed  stars  with  the  abodes  of  the  angels, 
which  might  possibly  be  urged,  as  well  from  the 
Bible  as  from  the  astronomical  stand-point. 

And  first  of  all,  it  might  appear  that  the  almost 
infinite  distance,  according  to  our  rules  of  measure- 
ment, of  the  stars  from  the  earth — a  distance  which 
a  ray  of  light  requires  ten,  one  hundred,  or  a  thou- 
sand years  to  traverse  (chap.  5,  §  6) — would  be  but 
little  in  harmony  with  such  a  supposition.  For  this 
immense  distance  seems  to  accord  unsatisfactorily 
with  the  Biblical  teachings  in  regard  to  the  frequent 
influential  presence  of  the  angels  upon  the  earth, 
since  they  are  represented  as  appearing  not  only  at 
the  grand  crisis  of  the  development  of  the  kingdom 
of  grace,  but  also  at  all  times  necessary  for  the  aid 
and  protection  of  the  children  of  the  kingdom. 

It  is  clear,  however,  that  such  an  objection  is  of 
any  weight,  onZ^  so  long  as  we  attribute  the  limited 
conditions  of  our  terrestrial  sphere  of  life,  to  the  life 
and  activity  of  the  angels,  something  we  are  by  no 
means  justified  in  doing.  There  are  here,  even  in 
the  sphere  of  sublunar  physical  agencies,  and  within 
the  compass  of  our  own  knowledge  and  experience, 
velocities  with  which  the  velocity  of  light  itself  can 
bear  no  comparison.  In  the  electric  telegraph  we 
see  an  all-pervading  physical  agent  employed  as  the 
messenger  of  the  mind,  with  a  velocity  of  movement 
which  is  not  capable  of  measurement  in  our  longest 
distances.    And  the  rapidity  with  which  the  influence 


ANGELS    AND    FIXED    STARS.  453 

of  gravity  passes  and  repasses  from  one  celestial 
sphere  to  another,  must,  "  according  to  very  fair  and 
reasonable  deductions,  be  at  least  10  million  times 
greater  than  the  velocity  of  light."^  All  these  velo- 
cities, however,  are  still  mocked  by  the  flight  of 
thought,  of  the  mind.  True,  our  corporeal  forms  can- 
not begin  to  keep  pace  with  that;  but  shall  not  the 
body,  in  those  spheres  where  nature  is  refined  and 
rendered  glorious,  and  in  those  holy  beings  which 
are  by  way  of  pre-eminence  termed  spirits,  obey  and 
carry  out  the  will  of  the  mind?^  And  shall  not 
those  privileged  beings  be  able,  with  the  rapidity  of 
thought  and  without  dispensing  with  their  bodies,  to 
transport  themselves  whithersoever  duty  may  call  ? 

Again,  it  may  be  objected,  that  the  diversity  of 
formations  amid  the  starry  worlds  of  the  firmament, 
of  which  modern  astronomy  has  enabled  us  to  catch 
some  significant  glimpses,  cannot  be  regarded  as  in 
harmony  with  the  generic  unity  of  the  nature,  the 
existence,  and  the  calling  of  the  angels,  as  represented 
in  the  scriptural  doctrine  of  those  beings.  Two 
things,  however,  must  be  overlooked  in  offering  such 
an  objection.  First,  that  the  Scriptures  beyond  doubt 
comprehend  and  point  out  within  this  generic  unity, 
great  specific  differences  between  the  several  classes 
of  angels,  the  existence  of  many  grades  of  dignity, 
might,  and  the  like, — and  then,  that  where  the  angels 
are  designated  as  a  common  and  like  whole,  this  ex- 
presses merely  the  general  contrast  and  distinction 
between  them  and  of  man.    But  the  contrast  between 

'  Schubert,  Unoeli,  p.  18. 

2  Comp.  J.  P.  Lange,  Lebeu  Jesu,  II.,  1,  pp.  58,  59. 


454  CON'FLICT   AND    HARMONY. 

the  character  of  fixed  stars  and  the  planetary  nature 
of  the  earth  is  great  enough  and  thorough  enough 
to  accord  with  the  contrast  between  angels  and  men. 

"We  are  well  aware  of  the  fact,  that  we  have  de- 
rived the  foregoing  proof  of  the  correlation  between 
angels  and  stars,  in  part  from  astronomical  views 
which  have  by  no  means  yet  been  proven  undoubt- 
edly  correct  or  fully  admissible,  and  which  may  per- 
haps ever  remain  problematical.  "VYe  may  make 
special  mention  in  this  connection,  of  the  view  that 
the  antagonistic  relation  of  the  solar  and  planetary 
principles,  which  here  below  so  determines  all  cosmi- 
cal  conditions,  and  imprints  upon  the  system  to  which 
our  earth  belongs  its  peculiar  character,  should  not 
have  any  existence  in  those  distant  regions  of  the 
universe.  But  such  a  difficulty  can  scarcely  be  sur- 
mounted, from  the  unavoidably  problematical  cha- 
racter of  all  perceptions  and  revelations  coming  from 
those  extremely  remote  regions  of  creation. 

But  supposing  our  views  be  not  strictly  and  tho- 
roughly in  accordance  with  the  reality,  supposing 
also  that  those  glowing  spheres  be  surrounded  by 
planets,  which,  just  like  our  earth,  are  dependent 
upon  solar  influences  for  light  and  heat,  indispensable 
to  their  inhabitants,  still  the  Bible  contains  not  a 
word  in  opposition  to  the  view  that  such  planets  may 
be  inhabited  by  angels.  Much  rather,  there  still 
remain  many  peculiarities  of  physical  structure  which 
correspond  to  the  characteristic  distinction  which 
obtains  between  angelic  beings  and  the  inhabitants 
of  the  earth.  In  the  systems  of  the  double  and  mul- 
tiple stars,  at  least,  and  the  thickly-crowded  clusters, 


ANGELS    AND    FIXED    STARS.  455 

where  tliousands  upon  thousands  of  stars  join  in 
forming  one  system,  such  hypothetical  planets  would 
have  to  be,  were  the}^  not  to  be  hurled  against  each 
other  or  against  their  suns  with  destructive  force, 
composed  of  a  material  so  refined  and  so  light,  that 
even  m  them,  as  opposed  to  the  earth,  should  be 
mirrored  the  contrast  presented  to  the  flesh-and- 
blood  character  of  the  human  body,  by  the  light, 
ethereal  structure  of  angelic  bodies.  I^o  less  would 
such  planets  be  the  theatre  of  a  constant  and  inex- 
haustible manifestation  of  light,  from  the  simulta- 
neous influence  of  hundreds,  yea,  thousands  of  suns, 
and  in  this  respect  also  might  be  the  fitting  abode 
of  glorious  angelic  natures,  the  inhabitants  of  light. 
But  what  shall  we  say  in  the  face  of  tlie  discovery 
of  Bessel  (chap.  5,  §  12),  that,  conversely,  in  the  re- 
gions of  the  fixed  stars,  suns,  and  those  the  largest 
and  most  brilliant,  revolve  around  bodies  which  are 
in  all  probability  dark  ?  What  shall  we  do  with  this 
discovery,  in  case  the  observations  upon  which  it  is 
founded  be  proved  correct  beyond  a  doubt?  where 
shall  we  find  a  proper  place  for  it  in  our  Biblical 
theory  of  the  world  ?  We .  frankly  admit  we  know 
not  where;  bat  without  yielding  the  principle  that 
what  is  still  a  mystery  from  mere  want  of  knowledge, 
is  by  no  means  proper  e\ddence  of  the  inadmissibihty 
of  what  we  do  know.  Meantime,  we  may  console 
ourselves  with  the  thought,  that  the  friends  of  the 
purely  astronomical  theory  of  the  world  will  find 
themselves  in  no  less  a  dilemma  in  connection  with 
this  problem,  should  the  physical  fact  be  established. 
Besides,  it  may  be  remarked,  that  with  all  the  reli- 


456  CONFLICT   AND    HARMONY. 

unce  to  be  placed  on  BesseVs  observations,  and  with 
all  the  corroboration  they  seem  to  have  received  from 
renewed  observation  in  the  same  direction,  the  in- 
ferences drawn  from  them  must  ever  retain  a  highly 
doubtful  character.  Just  in  the  same  measure  that 
this  doubtful  phenomenon  may  be  explained  through 
a  reversal  of  the  existing  solar  and  planetary  rela- 
tions, in  the  face  of  all  previous  views  and  knovv^- 
ledge,  it  may  assuredly  be  referred  to  agencies  of 
life  and  movement  in  the  celestial  regions,  of  which 
we  have  here  not  the  most  distant  knowledge. 

§  10.  Inhabitants  of  the  extra-mundane  Bodies  of  our 
Solar  8y stern. 

But  what  shall  w^e  say  of  the  rest  of  the  planets 
of  our  solar  system,  and  of  the  sun  itself?  Are  we 
to  suppose  them  also  inhabited,  and  what  might  be 
the  nature  of  such  supposed  inhabitants  ? 

The  Scriptures  mention  but  the  two  species  of 
self-conscious,  personal,  free,  and  spiritual  creatures : 
ayigels  and  men. — We  have  already  seen  that  there 
are  physical  grounds  upon  which  to  oppose  the  idea, 
that  these  bodies  should  be  inhabited  by  human 
beings,  with  flesh  and  blood  like  ours;  and  further, 
that  that  the  fundamental  point  in  the  Biblical  theory 
of  the  world  —  tlie  unity  of  the  whole  human  race, 
and  its  derivation  from  one  original  pair  —  would  be 
still  less  reconcilable  wdth  such  a  view.  Are  they, 
then,  inhabited  by  some  kind  of  angelic  beings  of  a 
different  nature,  of  diflterent  orders  and  grades  from 
those  w^hich  dwell  upon  the  other  starry  worlds  ? 
We  cannot  adopt  such  a  view,  since  thereby  neither 


INHABITANTS    OF    THE    PLANETS.        457 

the  marked  contrast  between  angels  and  men,  nor 
the  general  oneness  of  calling  and  nature  belonging 
to  the  angels,  both  matters  expressly  taught  in  Scrip- 
ture, would  seem  to  be  sufficiently  regarded  or  ac- 
knowledged. For,  notwithstanding  the  diversity 
in  details  presented  to  the  earth,  by  the  separate 
bodies  belonging  to  our  system,  the  similarity  of 
their  physical  constitution  and  arrangements  in 
general  to  those  of  our  earth,  is  too  great,  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  contrast  they  in  common  with 
the  earth  present  to  the  fixed  stars,  too  strongly 
marked,  on  the  other,  that  we  should  concede  them 
to  be  inhabited  by  any  sort  of  angelic  beings. 

Or  are  we  to  imagine,  as  has  been  frequently  inti- 
mated, that  the  souls  of  the  departed  dwell  there  ? 
The  righteous  upon  the  pleasant  Mar^,  upon  the  bright 
and  fair  Venus,  and  the  glorious  Sun,  perhaps ;  and 
the-  souls  of  the  unblest  amid  the  dreary  and  stormy 
wastes  of  Jupiter,  and  in  the  dismal  craters  of  the 
moon?' — Against  any  such  opinion  we  are  also 
bound  to  protest,  as  it  seems  to  us,  from  the  Biblical 
stand-point.  It  seems  to  us  next  thing  to  a  mere 
groundless  and  fantastic  chimera,  to  suppose  that 
these  bodies  were  intended  to  subserve  no  other  pur- 
pose than  to  supply  prison-houses  for  the  dead  of  the 
earth,  and  should  have  been  created  for  that  distinct 
purpose,  even  before  death  was  introduced  and  had 
become  general  through  the  sin  of  Adam.  Such  a 
view,  at  all  events,  is  not  in  the  least  justified  by  the 

'  Comp.  J.   P.   Lange,  TMnd  der  HerrlicJikeit,  pp.  8,  9,  and  his 
Verm.  Schr.  II.,  p.  270  &eq.,  as  also  Tholuck's  Stunden  der  An- 
dacJit,  p.  549. 
80 


458  CONFLICT   AND    HARMONY. 

Scriptures.  For  the  Bible  never  speaks  of  the 
locality  of  Scheol  or  Hades,  as  the  place  of  the  de- 
parted, in  any  other  than  the  common  usage  of  Scrip- 
ture ;  and  if  we  may  ascribe  to  its  expressions  any 
agreement  with  the  reality,  the  locality  of  Scheol 
should  much  rather  be  sought  under  the  earth  than 
in  the  heavens. 

Or,  further,  are  we  to  suppose  that  those  apostate 
spirits,  which  according  to  Holy  Writ,  are  consigned 
to  waste  places,^  and  the  barren  regions  of  the  air,^ 
dwell  in  those  volcanic  wastes  and  dungeons,  or  amid 
the  darkness  and  tempests,  the  scorching  blasts  and 
severe  cold  of  these  bodies  of  our  system?  —  Most 
probably  not  —  if  we  follow  the  expressions  and 
views  of  the  Bible,  which  place  the  abodes  of  these 
evil  beings,  rather,  in  close  proximity  to  the  earth ; 
amid  the  waste  places,  the  darkness  and  the  tempests 
of  this  sublunar  world.  For  the  expressions  :  i^ovdca 
Tov  aipoc:,  —  iv  tqTs  i-n-oupav/oj?,  from  the  Epistle  to  the 
Ephesians,  certainly  refer  primarily  to  the  terrestrial 
atmosphere,  even  though  a  wider  meaning  may  be 
ascribed  to  the  latter  of  them. 

Or,  finally,  has  that  supposition  the  most  proba- 
bilities in  its  favor,  which  regards  those  regions  of 
creation,  for  the  time  at  least,  as  devoid  of  reasonable 
beings  —  perhaps  analogous  to  the  regions  of  our 
earth  uninhabited  by  man,  if  not  by  living  creatures 
in  general :  its  primeval  forests,  its  uncultivated 
plains,  and  its  wide  seas,  which  none  the  less  on  this 
account  are  destined  to  be  made  arable  and  habitable 
by  the  hand  of  man,  to  serve  his  convenience,  and 

'  Matt.  12  :  43  ;  Luke  11  :  24.  2  Eph.  2  :  2;  6  :  12. 


INHABITANTS    OF    THE    PLANETS.       459 

are  hereafter  to  be  purified  and  renewed  with  the 
rest  of  the  earth,  and  brought  into  a  paradisiacal 
condition  ?  A  similar  disproportion  between  the 
earth's  fitness  for  habitation  and  its  actual  occupa- 
tion, certainly  existed  for  centuries  before  the  first 
human  pair,  on  the  strength  of  the  command,  "Be 
fruitful,  and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth,"  had 
peopled  the  whole  earth,  in  ever-widening  circles 
from  their  original  dwelling-place. 

When  we  consider  the  close  association  and  the 
physical  relationship  of  all  the  members  of  our  solar 
system,  their  organic  connection,  their  complete  and 
symmetrical  unity,  much  that  seems  unacceptable  in 
the  above  conjecture  of  the  non-habitation  of  the 
planets,  appears  to  vanish.  For  this  unity  in  the 
organization  and  articulation  of  the  whole  solar  sys- 
tem, seems  to  point  clearly  to  unity  of  relation  and 
destiny,  and  to  condition  and  presuppose  a  history 
in  unison,  as  regards  its  relations  and  bearings. 

Had  man  been  ti'ue  to  his  destiny,  and  in  a  godly, 
and  hence,  also,  divinely-supported  development, 
peopled  the  planet  w^hich  was  allotted  him  as  an 
abode,  from  the  spot  which  served  as  the  cradle  of 
the  race  to  the  outmost  boundaries  of  the  globe,  per- 
haps, as  may  at  least  be  conceived,  his  destiny  would 
have  been  extended  to  those  kindred  worlds,  at  no 
great  distance,  and  pertaining  so  closely  to  his  abode, 
so  that  they  also  might  be  included  in  the  circle  of 
his  activities  and  conducted  to  their  destined  perfec- 
tion. Perhaps  man  should  have  been  able,  in  the 
ever-increasing  energy  of  his  destiny  from  a  godly 
development,  and  in  the  complete  subjection  of  the 


460  CONFLICT   AND   HARMONY. 

2:)hjsical  forces  to  his  control,  to  open  up  as  safe  and 
practicable  a  passage  tlirongli  the  sea  of  ether  which 
stretches  from  the  shores  of  one  island-world  of  our 
system  to  the  other,  as  he  has  through  the  trackless 
watery  w^astes  which  separate  land  from  land  upon 
his  own  earth.  And  perhaps  he  would  have  suc- 
ceeded in  devising  means  of  overcoming  the  incon- 
gruities and  inaptitudes  of  nature  in  those  neighbor- 
ing worlds,  just  as  he  has  succeeded  in  transforming 
and  rendering  habitable  the  forests  and  wastes  of  the 
earth. 

But  as  the  sin  of  the  first  man  gave  the  whole 
development  of  his  race  a  perverted  and  godless 
direction,  so  that  the  appointed  end  can  be  reached 
only  through  the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God,  who 
as  the  second  Adam  took  the  place  of  the  first,  in 
order  to  restore  what  had  been  destroyed — the  des- . 
tiny  and  predestined  perfection  of  those  worlds,  like 
much  upon  the  earth  itself,  remains  suspended  and 
incomplete,  until  Christ  the  second  Adam  take  them 
up  again  and  conduct  them  to  the  end.  And  as  this 
perfection  with  respect  to  the  world  of  our  earth  can 
be  brought  about  only  through  a  mighty  final  catas- 
trophe, followed  by  a  general  renovation  of  the  world, 
in  which  all  that  is  godless,  the  fruit  of  Satan's  fall 
or  the  sin  of  man,  shall  be  separated  as  dross,  so  also 
may  the  same  in  fitting  measure  be  the  casein  those 
kindred  and  neischborino:  worlds.  This  is  the  rather 
to  be  assumed,  as  it  is  not  in  itself  improbable  that 
they  were  more  or  less  aflected  by  that  catastrophe 
which  brought  about  the  tohu  va  bohu  (chap.  4,  §  6,  25) 
of  the  earth. 


ASTRONOMICAL   THEORY    OF   THE   WORLD.  461 

If  from  the  foregoing  it  be  found  so  difficult  and 
doubtful  an  undertaking  to  assign  to  the  planets  of 
our  system  a  fixed  and  characteristic  position  in  the 
Biblico-astronomical  theory  of  the  world,  we  may 
well  be  excused  from  attempting  a  similar  procedure 
with  respect  to  the  comets,  and  the  innumerable 
asteroids  called  by  the  unpoetical  name  of  shooting 
stars,  satisfied  that  here,  where  Biblical  intimations 
are  wanting  as  well  as  characteristic  astronomical 
data,  no  result  can  be  obtained  having  much  beyond 
a  mere  shade  of  probability. 

§  11.  The  Astronomical  Theory  of  the  World, 

(7o/'erwicws,  in  so  triumphantly  combating  the  deeply- 
rooted  cosmological  errors  of  antiquity,  gave  illus- 
trious proof  that  science  no  less  than  faith,  is  pos- 
sessed of  a  world-surmounting  power;  but  in  a 
difi:erent  manner,  and  with  respect  to  a  wholly  dif- 
ferent sphere.  This  world-surmounting  power  of 
each,  is  truth,  which  is  derived  from  God,  is  rooted 
in  God,  and  tends  toward  God.  It  insures  them  both 
a  final  and  permanent  triumph  over  all  the  conflict- 
ing powers  of  self-interest,  blindness,  ignorance,  folly, 
and  error  of  the  world,  however  wide-spread  and  in- 
veterate these  may  seem  to  be :  it  insures  the  true 
faith  against  all  the  assaults  of  that  false  science, 
which  would  combat,  not  Divine  truth,  but  its  own 
delusions  and  errors ;  and  no  less  does  it  warrant 
genuine  science  the  most  complete  triumph  over  all 
error  and  superstition. 

Copernicus  triumphed  :  truth,  with  him  as  its  cham- 
pion, succeeded  in  casting  out  from  the  world  those 
39* 


462  CONFLICT   AND    HARMONY. 

hosts  of  errors  and  prejudices  wliich  had  heen  deeply 
rooted  in  it  for  thousands  of  years.  It  were  not  only 
vain,  but  singularly  foolish,  to  resist  and  refuse  to 
receive  truths  which  have  gloriously  withstood  all 
the  fiery  trials  of  doubt  and  direct  assault,  the  severe 
examinations  and  tests  imposed  by  friends  and  foes. 
But  it  is  a  different  matter  altogether,  to  protest 
against  the  false  applications  and  groundless  conse- 
quences which  have  been  assigned  to  the  same, 
through  misconception  or  ignorance. 

"When  at  length,  after  a  severe  conflict,  the  truth 
of  the  Copernican  system  became  generally  acknow- 
ledged, the  earth  w^as  no  longer  able  to  maintain  that 
cosmological  significance  which  had  been  previously 
so  willingly  accorded  it  by  astronomj^  It  could  no 
longer  be  regarded  as  the  physical  centre  of  the  whole 
cosmical  structure.  It  had  to  he  placed,  in  an  astro- 
nomical point  of  view,  on  a  par  with  the  rest  of  the 
planets,  subordinate  to  the  sun  ;  and  the  latter,  as  the 
centre  of  the  system  to  which  it  belonged,  assigned 
a  place  in  the  series  of  countless  equally  privileged 
suns,  scattered  through  all  space.  But  the  idea  was 
very  soon  conceived,  something  which  never  entered 
the  mind  of  Copernicus,  that  along  with  the  i^hysical 
significance  which  had  previously  without  reason 
been  ascribed  to  the  earth,  its  religious  significance 
also,  as  represented  in  the  Bible,  could  or  should  be 
set  aside.  It  was  held,  that  since  the  earth  had  be- 
come such  a  subordinate  and  insignificant  point  in 
the  whole  nniverse,  our  faith  in  the  Bible  which 
speaks  of  it  as  the  theatre  of  the  most  glorious  deeds 
and  revelations  of  Deity,  could  no  longer  stand  its 


APTrtONOMICAL   THEORY   OF   THE   WORLD.  463 

ground.  And  further,  that  upon  a  world  so  small,. 
SO  poor  and  unimportant,  the  infinite  and  sovereign 
God,  who  had  created  innumerable  other  infinitely 
higher  and  more  glorious  worlds,  and  such  as  were 
better  fitted  for  and  deserving  of  high  honor,  could 
not  condescend  to  manifest  his  miraculous  power  in 
the  midst  of  us,  and  in  due  time  Himself  became 
man  upon  the  earth,  in  personal  union  with  a  body 
to  all  eternity. 

IText  came  ITer^scJiel  with  his  brilliant  researches, 
by  which  the  thousands  of  'sunshaving  equal,  if  not 
higher  claims  to  distinction  than  our  own  glorious 
luminar}^  were  increased  to  millions,  yea,  to  billions; 
and  in  which  Avith  the  increasing  penetration  of  his 
telescope  into  the  depths  of  space,  new  and  count- 
less hosts  of  worlds  were  laid  bare  to  the  astonished 
eye,  and  space  beyond  the  utmost  bounds  of  tele- 
scopic vision,  as  well  as  the  worlds  it  contained, 
seemed  to  the  excited  and  enchained  fancy,  to  be 
lost  in  absolute  infinity.  AVhen  the  mind  became 
bewildered  amid  such  a  wide  maze  of  worlds,  not 
only  did  the  earth  seem  too  unim'portant  a  spot  for 
the  incarnation  as  mentioned  in  the  Bible,  but  also 
the  universe  in  its  imaginary  infinity  of  space  and 
time,  too  immense  for  louger  belief  in  the  Biblical 
doctrine  of  the  finite  nature  of  all  creatures  and 
created  things,  and  the  infinity  of  God  alone,  whom 
che  heaven  of  heavens  cannot  contain,  who  alone  is 
from  eternify  to  eternity,  while  all  the  heavens  were 
created  out  of  nothing  by  the  word  of  His  mouth. 
Thus  did  the  mind  get  rid  of  not  only  the  immanent 
Redeemer  of  man  and  the  earth,  but  also  of  the 


464  CONFLICT   AND   HARMONY. 

transcendent  personal  Creator  of  both  the  heavens 
and  the  earth. 

But  if  the  investigations  of  Herschel  gave  to  the 
astronomical  theory  of  the  world,  a  centrifugal  and 
ever  outward-tending  direction,  the  modern  discov- 
ery of  Mddler  (chap.  5,  §  9),  on  the  other  hand,  seems 
well  fitted  to  call  it  back  from  its  wild  and  daring 
flight  in  immensity,  where  it  threatens  not  only  to 
forget  its  proper  home,  but  utterly  to  lose  itself;  and 
promises  to  give  it  again  the  centripetal  direction, 
which  is  the  necessary  complement  of  the  centri- 
fugal, and  prevents  the  latter  from  wildly  stra3'ing 
and  becoming  lost  in  an  infinite — nothing. 

§  12.   The  Infinity  of  Sjyace, 

It  is  wholly  beyond  the  power  of  human  reason  or 
understanding  to  comprehend  that  there  exists,  or 
rather,  liow  there  should  exist,  an  absolute  limit  to 
space  and  the  bodies  included  in  it.  But  is  an  abso- 
lute infinity  of  space  any  the  less  incomprehensible  ? 
It  is  inconceivable  how  and  where  space  should  cease 
to  be,  but  is  it  any  less  inconceivable  that  it  should 
be  absolutely  without  limit,  and  how  this  should  be? 
The  incomprehensibility  of  the  one  as  well  as  the 
other,  arises,  therefore,  not  from  the  nature  of  the 
things  themselves,  but  from  the  inadequacy  of  the 
mind  which  attempts  to  grasp  them.  Reason  here 
utterly  confounded,  refers  us  to  faith.  To  faith  alone 
remains  the  decision,  and  according  to  the  true  or 
false  position  of  the  former  will  be  the  issue  of  the 
latter. 

Theism^  which  regards  the  existence  of  a  personaly 


THE    INFINITY    OF    SPACE.  465 

living,  and  eternal  God,  who  is  as  infinitely  exalted 
over  time  and  space,  and  distinct  from  them,  as  he  is 
at  the  same  time  everywhere  and  omnipotently  active 
in  time  and  space — Theism,  which  regards  this  as  in 
itself  the  most  induhitable  of  all  facts,  and  not  re- 
quiring proof,  must  decide  unconditionally  for  the 
finite,  limited  nature  of  creation  with  respect  to  time 
and  space,  however  far  we  may  desire  to  extend  its 
boundaries.  But  Pantheism,  which  cannot  imagine 
a  personal  God  without  and  above  the  world,  must 
decide  no  less  promptly  for  the  infinity  of  both  time 
and  space. 

Our  object  here  has  reference  to  Biblical  Theism 
alone;  to  settle  it  upon  a  firm  astronomical  basis, 
and  defend  it  Avith  the  weapons  furnished  us  by 
astronomy,  is  the  task  we  have  assigned  ourselves. 

"With  regard  to  the  question  whether  space  is  to  be 
considered  as  finite  and  limited,  or  infinite  and  with- 
out limit,  all  primarily  depends  upon  the  idea  we 
have  of  space.  Space  may  be  understood  in  two  dif- 
ferent senses,  as  formal,  or  real.  In  itself,  it  is  a  form 
merely,  which  acquires  substance,  an  idea  which 
acquires  realit}^,  only  through  the  bodies  which  fill 
it.  Empty  space  is  nothing  more  than  the  negation 
or  absence  of  material  bodies,  but  at  the  same  time 
is  a  possibility  or  capacity  for  the  manifestation  of 
such  bodies.  In  this  sense,  which  regards  space  as  a 
mere  susceptibility  or  capacity  for  the  actual  existence 
of  bodies,  we  hesitate  not  to  ascribe  to  it  absolute 
infinity.  For  this  capacity  coincides  with  the  omni- 
potence of  Deity,  in  which  as  a  potency  there  dwells 
the  possibility  of  an  unceasing  creative  activity. 


466  CONFLICT   AND    HARMONY. 

But  to  real  space,  i.  e.,  space  which  manifests  itself 
or  attains  reality  through  the  presence  of  bodies 
which  occupy  it  (be  these  the  coarsest  or  the  finest, 
the  most  solid  spheres  or  the  most  impassive  fluids 
of  a  cosmical  ether),  w^e  cannot  ascribe  infinity,  with- 
out thereby  w^holly  destroying  the  idea  of  a  personal 
and  transcendent  God.  Though  we  imagine  creative 
activity  unceasingly  progressive,  so  that  potential 
space  is  ever  becoming  raised  to  actual  space, 
through  the  creation  of  new  worlds ;  still  this  actual 
space  must  ever  be  considered,  at  any  given  period, 
as  finite  and  limited.  The  potency  of  creation  lies 
in  God,  and  is  hence  infinite  like  himself;  but  the 
realization  of  this  potency  is  a  manifestation  of  it  on 
what  is  finite,  and  hence  its  results  also  must  always 
be  finite.  For,  in  the  process  of  creation,  the  created, 
wdiich  heretofore  dwelt  in  God  as  a  potency,  proceeds 
forth  from  Him:  it  is  distinct  from  God  immediately 
upon  its  creation ;  hence,  also,  finite.  It  were  infinite, 
only  when  God  had  fully  exJiausted  the  infinite  crea- 
tive potency  dwelling  in  himself,  i.  e.,  w^hen  in  crea- 
ting, God  had  absolutely  done  away  with  Himself,  and 
left  an  infinite  universe  in  his  stead.  But  it  is  a  con- 
tradiction in  itself  to  speak  of  an  infinite  potency 
becoming  exhausted,  and  such  a  thing  is  not  to  be 
conceived. 

Hence  it  is  clear  that  the  idea  of  a  transcendent 
Creator  is  wholly  irreconcilable  with  the  idea  of  the 
infinity  of  actual  space ;  so  that  if  the  latter  over- 
power the  mind,  and  cannot  be  got  rid  of,  the  idea 
of  a  transcendent  Creator  must  be  at  once  aban- 
doned.    This  is  the  origin  of  Pantheism. 


TRANSCENDENCE   AND   IMMANENCE    OF    GOD.         467 

Since  tlierefore  actual  space,  {.  e.  space  containing 
bodies,  is  finite,  and  must  consequently  have  a  limit 
■within  which  it  is  comprehended,  and  without  which 
it  Avould  dissolve  away  and  be  utterly  lost,  we  can 
but  suppose  that  God  Himself  is  this  limit.  And 
also,  as  God,  being  a  Spirit,  is  immaterial,  that  the 
boundary  which  surrounds  and  keeps  together  the 
whole  creation,  is  likewise  an  immaterial  one — of  a 
spiritual  nature,  or  a  pure  force.  But  this  power  can 
and  must  have  a  two-fold  character,  first,  it  must  act 
from  the  periphery  toward  the  centre  and  all  points 
lying  between  the  two ;  and  then  it  must  act  from 
the  centre  toward  the  periphery,  in  all  directions  and 
toward  all  points.  The  former  we  perceive  in  the 
Transcendence  of  God,  the  latter  in  His  Immanence. 

§  13.  The  Transcendence  and  Immanence  of  God  in  the 
Mirror  of  Astronomy. 

Let  us  now^  inquire  how  these  results  of  theistic  faith 
and  reason  comport  with  the  results  of  astronomy. 

It  must  be  understood,  in  the  first  place,  that  when 
astronomy  speaks  of  an  infinity  of  space,  or  an  infinity 
of  worlds,  as  the  fruit  of  its  researches,  no  absolute, 
but  ever  a  mere  relative  infinity  can  be  meant,  i.  e. 
that  its  investigations  and  observations  have  not  suc- 
ceeded in  carrying  themselves  to  the  utmost  limits 
of  space  or  of  worlds. 

Astronomy  may  have  a  right  to  maintain  that 
those  nebulce  scattered  profusely  over  the  whole 
heavens,  and  refusing  to  be  resolved  by  the  most 
powerful  instruments,  are  new  systems  of  Milky- 
Ways — although  this  right  even  might  be  very  much 


468  CONFLICT   AND    HARMONY. 

called  in  question,  as  we  have  previously  seen :  it 
may  boldly  assert,  something  for  which  it  has  no 
foundation,  that  yet  more  space-penetrating  instru- 
ments will  reveal  still  more  remote  systems  of  Milky- 
Ways,  nebulae  respectively  :  it  may  extend  this  ideal 
and  perhaps  altogether  fanciful  construction  of  worlds, 
as  far  as  it  will, — still  it  is  far,  very  far,  from  being  jus- 
tified in  the  assumption,  that  this  heaping  of  systems 
upon  systems  of  Milk}- Ways  is  absolutely  infinite, 
and  knows  no  bound. 

Such  a  relative  infinity  of  worlds  as  the  above 
taught  by  astronomy,  assuredly  cannot  appear  to  any 
one  irreconcilable  with  the  theistic  or  Biblical  doctrine 
of  Deity.  Indeed,  we  cannot  see  why  we  should  ap- 
prehend any  danger  to  our  faith,  were  this  idea  of 
the  relative  infinity  of  worlds  so  extended,  that  not 
only  reason  but  even  imagination  should  grow  giddy; 
we  object  not  in  the  least  against  astronomy  increas- 
ing and  exalting  the  creative  glory  of  our  God  to 
such  a  height,  that  thought  and  reason  should  utterly 
fail,  and  we  fall  prostrate  in  the  dust  to  wonder  and 
adore ;  for  even  here  we  might  a23peal  to  Scripture, 
in  which  the  glory,  majesty,  and  omnipotence  of 
Deit}^,  are  praised  in  the  most  exalted  terms. 

But  astronomy,  on  the  contrary,  oiFers  us  positive 
data  which  serve  signally  to  strengthen  us  in  the 
results  of  theistic  speculation,  as  obtained  in  the  pre- 
vious pages,  and  to  give  concrete  form  to  the  abstract 
necessity  of  such  results. 

We  here  refer  particularly  to  the  magnificent  disco- 
very of  the  present  day,  wd:iich  we  owe  to  the  profound 
sagacity  and  fruitful  diligence  of  3Iadler  (chap.  5,  §  9). 


TRANSCENDEXCE   AND    IMMANENCE    OF    GOD.       469 

The  tendency  of  ull  cosmical  bodies  and  cosmical 
systems  towards  a  common  centre,  which  is  ever  ideal 
and  immaterial  (chap.  5,  §  11,  note  22),  and  which 
represents  itself  as  material,  only  in  a  case  where  the 
masses  are  so  widely  disproportioned  as  in  our  solar 
system,  points  very  clearly  to  that  Eternal  Centre, 
which,  in  the  language  of  Scripture,  supports  and 
sustains  all  things  by  the  word  of  His  power ; — it 
bears  clear  witness  to  the  immanence  of  God,  as  the 
eternal,  original  power,  itself  immaterial  and  uncre- 
ated, which  with  omnipotent  energy  pervades  and 
upholds  all  things  material  and  created,  the  sun  no 
more  than  the  mote  floating  in  his  beams ;  and 
which  itself  partaking  of  unity,  places  all  single 
phenomena  of  the  world  of  the  created  under  a  sin- 
gle (einheitlichen)  point  of  view.  As  in  Madlers 
central  theory  each  cosmical  body  exerts  its  influence 
of  gravitation  upon  all  the  rest,  and  conversely,  is 
itself  acted  upon  by  all  the  other  bodies,  we  have 
here  a  symbol  and  evidence  of  the  omnipresence  and 
efficient  power  of  God,  by  which  all  things  in  the 
universe  are  referred  to  that  unity  which  is  Himself, 
and  all  the  most  varied  and  manifold  relations  of 
thine^s  subordinated  to  one  another.  Gravitation  is 
the  immanence  of  God ;  the  embodiinent  of  Deity,  if 
it  might  be  so  spoken,  in  the  sphere  of  the  cosmicaL 
But  there  exists  a  corresponding  gravitation  in  the 
sphere  of  the  created  mind,  through  which  all  indi- 
vidual minds  are  placed  in  relation  to  the  Centre  of 
all  mind,  as  well  as  in  the  most  varied  relations  to 
each  other ; — only  with  this  distinction,  that  the  gra- 
vitation which  obtains  in  the  spiritual  world  is  made 
40 


470  COXFLICT   AND    HARMONY. 

dependent  upon  the  self-determination  and  voluntary 
development  of  the  individual,  and  therefore  sub- 
jected to  the  changes  and  disturbances  conditioned 
by  the  use  or  abuse  of  personal  freedom ;  whilst  the 
purely  cosmical  gravitation  was  finished  by  the  Cre- 
ator in  the  beginning,  but  not  connected  either  with 
freedom  or  personality,  and  hence  not  exposed  to 
such  an  abuse  of  powers,  and  to  the  disturbances 
which  would  follow. 

As  we  have  recognized  in  the  centripetal  force  of 
cosmical  bodies,  a  symbol  and  evidence  of  the  im- 
manence of  God,  so  also  their  centrifugal  force  points 
to  the  transcendence  of  the  Divine  Being.  The  latter 
evinces  the  fact  that,  besides  that  force  which  attracts 
all  bodies  towards  a  single  point,  and  opposed  to  it — 
completing  it  and  sustaining  the  equilibrium  with 
it — there  must  be  without  and  beyond  the  world,  a  no 
less  powerful  force  at  work  upon  all  the  single  worlds, 
attracting  them  no  less  powerfully  and  irresistibly. 
To  this  striving  of  the  cosmical  bodies  toward  the 
circumference  there  corresponds  in  the  sphere  of 
created  personality,  a  need  of  the  spirit  to  seek  God 
not  only  in  the  created  but  without  it  and  beyond  it. 
The  centripetal  force  alone  would  dash  ivorld 
against  worlds  and  lead  the  created  spirit  to  deifica- 
tion of  self  and  the  world ;  the  centrifugal  force  alone 
would  rend  world  away  from  worlds  and  deprive  the 
spirit  of  all  basis  and  self-dependence.  Regarded 
singly,  the  centrifugal  force  corresponds  to  Deism, 
the  centripetal  to  Pantheism,  and  the  living  union 
of  the  two,  their  mutual  completion  and  harmonious 
cooperation,  to  Christian  Theism. 


THE    INCARNATION    OF    GOD.  4T1 

§  14.   The  Incarnation  of  Crod. 

We  now  come  to  the  essential  point  in  the  nominal 
contradiction  between  the  Biblical  and  the  astronomi- 
cal theory  of  the  world.  It  has  respect  to  the  funda- 
mental and  leading  doctrine  of  all  Christendom,  with 
which  the  latter  stands  or  falls  —  the  doctrine  of  the 
Incarnation  of  God  in  Christ  — \\\\\q\\  it  is  asserted 
can  no  longer  maintain  its  ground,  in  the  face  of  the 
results  of  modern  astronomy  which  bespeak  an  infin- 
ity of  worlds. 

How  is  it  possible,  it  is  inquired,  how  is  it  to  be 
conceived  that  the  Lord  and  Creator  of  all  those 
countless,  immeasurable  and  glorious  worlds,  before 
which  our  earth  shrinks  away  as  a  mote  in  the  pres- 
ence of  a  mighty  globe,  or  is  lost  as  a  drop  in  the 
ocean,  should  have  chosen  this  little  point,  earth,  out 
of  all  the  rich  depths  of  the  universe,  in  order  here 
to  appear  and  here  take  upon  Himself  the  sorrows 
and  infirmities  of  humanity;  veiling  Himself  for 
man's  sake  in  mortal  flesh,  in  order  through  agony 
and  death  to  redeem  the  children  of  men,  and  estab- 
lish the  throne  of  his  glory  in  the  midst  of  them;  in 
order,  as  their  brother  and  friend,  and  the  partner 
of  their  flesh  and  blood,  to  make  them  partakers  of 
all  his  majesty  and  glory?  Is  there  indeed  none  to 
be  found  among  all  the  countless  celestial  worlds,  all 
of  which  are  inflnitely  glorious,  more  worthy  and 
fitting  to  be  the  place  of  the  most  glorious  revelation 
of  Deity,  the  centre  of  the  universe,  the  eternal 
throne  of  His  immediate  presence  ?  And  have  not 
all  those  worlds — each  singly — the  very  same,  and 


472  CONFLICT   AND    HARMONY. 

even  still  higher  claims  to  such  distinction  ?  Or  can 
it  be  that  He,  the  Unchangeable  and  the  Just,  is  so 
arbitrary  and  partial  as  to  give  to  one  what  he 
denies  to  another  ? 

It  must  be  allowed  that  the  disproportion  here 
presented  is  so  great  and  so  overwhelming,  that  our 
minds  may  well  be  startled  and  filled  with  hesitation 
the  moment  it  first  strikes  them.  But  is  He,  who 
created  all  these  worlds,  and  among  them  this  little 
point,  earth,  any  less  great  and  powerful  ?  True,  no 
human  mind  is  able  to  reconcile  the  contrasts  of  great 
and  small  as  here  presented,  or  to  fill  up  the  w^ide 
spaces  between  them ;  but  is  the  Infinite  Mind  bound 
by  the  fetters  of  human  reason,  and  the  Divine  wdll 
measured  by  human  penetration  ?  Does  it  become 
us  to  pronounce  what  is  possible  and  what  impossible 
with  the  Almighty  ?  Shall  we  presume  to  set  bounds 
to  his  power,  and  say:  Hitherto — but  no  further? 
To  question  his  demeanor  and  decide  what  is  worthy 
of  Himself?  To  set  bounds  to  his  .workings,  lest 
prejudice  should  arise?  Shall  we  instruct  Him  to 
measure  his  free  grace  by  cubic  miles,  or  his  love  by 
the  magnitude  of  fixed  stars  ?  Shall  we  presume  to 
saj'  how  many  square  miles  a  planet  must  have,  that 
-  it  may  be  a  fitting  place  for  the  incarnation  of  the 
Eternal  ?  Shall  we  forbid  Him,  that  He  should,  in 
his  wisdom  and  grace,  choose  "the  foolish  things  of 
the  world  to  confound  the  wise;  and  the  weak  things 
of  the  world  to  confound  the  things  which  are 
mighty;  and  base  things  of  the  w^orld,  and  things 
which  are  despised,  and  things  that  are  not,  to  bring 
to  naught  things  that  are:  that  no  flesh  should  glory 


THE    INCARNATION    OF    GOD.  4T3 

in  liis  presence?  "^  Has  lie  not  power  to  do  what 
He  will  with  his  own?  Is  our  eye  evil  because  his  is 
good?" 

The  revelations  of  the  microscope  have  frequently, 
and  not  without  reason,  been  opposed  as  a  corrective^ 
to  the  discoveries  of  the  felesco2:>e,  which  have  filled 

» 1  Cor.  1  :  27-29.  2  j^j^tt.  20  :  15. 

^  Chalmers,  in  particular,  has  pursued  this  course,  in  his  Astro- 
nomical Discourses,  We  quote  the  following  from  the  third  dis- 
course of  the  series:  *'It  was  the  telescope  that,  by  piercing  the 
obscurity  which  lies  between  us  and  distant  worlds,  put  infidelity 
in  possession  of  the  argument  against  which  we  are  contending. 
But,  about  the  time  of  its  invention,  another  instrument  was 
formed,  which  laid  open  a  scene  no  less  wonderful,  and  rewarded 
the  inquisitive  spirit  of  man  with  a  discovery,  which  serves  to 
neutralize  the  whole  of  this  argument.  This  was  the  microscope. 
The  one  led  me  to  see  a  system  in  every  star  —  the  other  leads 
me  to  see  a  world  in  every  atom.  The  one  taught  me  that  this 
mighty  globe,  with  the  whole  burden  of  its  people,  and  of  its 
countries,  is  but  a  grain  of  sand  on  the  high  field  of  immensity  — 
the  other  teaches  me  that  every  grain  of  sand  may  harbor  within 
it  the  tribes  and  families  of  a  busy  population.  The  one  told  me 
of  the  insignificance  of  the  world  I  tread  upon  —  the  other  re- 
deems it  from  all  its  insignificance  ;  for  it  tells  me  that  in  the 
leaves  of  every  forest,  and  in  the  flowers  of  every  garden,  and  in 
the  Avaters  of  every  rivulet,  there  are  worlds  teeming  with  life, 
and  numberless  as  are  the  glories  of  the  firmament.  The  one  has 
suggested  to  me  that  beyond  and  above  all  that  is  visible  to  man, 
there  lie  fields  of  creation  which  sweep  immeasurably  along,  and 
carry  the  impress  of  the  Almighty's  hand  to  the  remotest  scenes 

of  the  universe Every  addition  to  the  powers  of  the  one 

instrument  extends  the  limit  of  the  visible  dominions  of  the  great 
King.  The  advancing  perfection  of  the  other  peoples  every  point 
of  immeasurable  space.  The  bold  assertions  made  by  infidelity 
on  the  strength  of  the  revelations  of  astronomy  require  no  other 
refutation,  as  we  view  the  question,  than  that  furnished  by  the  little 
instrument,  the  microscope,"  etc. 
40* 


474  CONFLICT   AND    HARMONY. 

SO  many  minds  with  hesitation  and  doubt ;  for  in 
that  the  microscope  has  shown  us  that  every  atom  of 
the  earth,  as  w^ell  as  every  drop  of  water,  contains  a 
world  of  wonder  and  life,  such  progress  at  least  has 
been  made  that  we  have  arrived  at  another  and  a 
better  gauge  of  the  greatness,  wisdom,  might,  and 
majesty  of  God,  than  that  founded  on  distances  of 
fixed  stars.  We  have  arrived  at  the  clear  conscious- 
ness, that  the  earth,  however  small,  puny,  and  insig- 
nificant it  may  be,  compared  with  the  whole  universe, 
still  contains  a  like  infinite  plenitude  of  richly-varied 
worlds,  to  that  which  exists  in  the  whole  universe,  in 
proportion  to  its  magnitude. 

Further,  it  has  been  shown,  and  clearly,  too,  that 
in  this  question  of  puzzling  contrasts,  two  wholly  in- 
commensurable spheres  have  been  confounded  and 
compared  with  each  other,  as  of  equal  title  to  con- 
sideration—  the  sphere  of  nature  and  of  spirit,  of 
materiality  and  of  personality,  of  space  and  of  will. 
But  assuredly  the  greatest  deeds  and  most  wondrous 
revelations  of  spirit  may  unfold  themselves  in  the 
smallest  space  !  and  it  is  in  this  very  fact  that  spirit 
evinces  its  greatest  glory,  that  it  makes  the  smallest 
spot,  and  indeed  the  rather  as  it  is  small,  the  theatre 
of  its  most  grand  and  comprehensive  revelations. 

But  still,  such  considerations  advance  us  but  little 
toward  the  desired  end.  One  astonishment  is  merely 
counteracted  by  another;  but  contrast  opposed  to 
contrast  does  not  really  bring  about  a  reconciliation 
and  remove  all  difliculty.  iTo  sooner  has  the  mind 
recovered  itself  from  the  second  astonishment,  than 
it  again  recurs  to  the  first,  with  its  ^'hut  still,''  as  a 


THE    INCARNATION    OF    GOD.  475 

new  protest.  Its  earnest  desire,  and  that  not  without 
reason,  is  to  see  the  wondrous  revelations  of  the  tele- 
scope no  less  than  the  microscope,  each  m  their  own 
sphere,  harmonized  with  religious  views.  Let  us  see 
if  such  an  accordance  may  not  he  effected,  without 
having  recourse  to  the  desperate  measure  of  attempt- 
ing to  destroy  and  do  away  with  one  inexplicahle 
prohlem  hy  means  of  another  no  less  inexplicahle. 

§  15.  Continuation. 

"What  if  the  earth  alone,  of  all  worlds,  stood  in  need 
of  such  a  testimony  on  the  part  of  God ;  if  it  were 
alone  fallen  into  sin  and  misery,  so  that  it  alone 
should  have  stood  in  7ieed  of  redemption  ?  Would 
not  the  idea  that  it  should  alone  have  heen  worthy  of 
redemption,  give  way  hefore  the  idea  that  it  alone 
stood  in  need  of  it,  the  former  he  lost  in  the  latter  ? 

''What  think  ye?''  say  the  lips  of  eternal  Wisdom, 
"•What  think  ye?  If  a  man  have  an  hundred  sheep, 
and  one  of  them  be  gone  astray,  doth  he  not  leave  the 
ninety  and  nine,  and  goetJi  into  the  mountains,  and 
seeketh  that  which  is  gone  astray  ?  And  if  so  be  that 
he  find  it,  verily  I  say  unto  you,  he  rejoiceth  more  of 
that  sheep,  than  of  the  ninety  and  nine  which  went  jiot 
astray."'^  And  shall  not  the  sovereign,  the  everlast- 
ing Shepherd,  who  tends  his  innumerable  golden 
flock  within  the  pavilion  of  the  heavens,  leave  there 
those  millions  to  hasten  after  the  member  that  may 
have  strayed,  be  it  the  smallest,  the  weakest,  and 
most  sorely  stricken  of  the  whole  flock  ?  Is  it  not 
most  in  need  of  his  tender  care,  without  which  it 

•  Matt.  18  :  12,  13. 


476  CONFLICT   AND    HAEMONY. 

should  utterly  perish  ?  Shall  He  not,  in  infinite  love 
and  never-ending  compassion,  seek  it  out,  and  greatly 
rejoice  over  it  when  it  has  been  brought  back  in 
safety?  Left  is  not  necessarily  forsaken:  the  rest 
suffer  not  from  special  care  bestowed  on  one ;  but 
are  securely  kept  and  guarded,  and  whether  they  be 
hundreds  or  millions,  can  that  make  any  change  in 
the  counsels  of  eternal  love  ? 

Were  this  earth  the  only  province  in  the  immea- 
surable domain  of  Deity,  and  it  the  smallest  and 
most  insignificant,  too,  in  which  rebellion  had  broken 
out,  wdiere  unhallowed  claims  were  set  up,  where  all 
hostile  rebellious  forces  are  concentrated,  should  the 
eternal  King  care  less  for  it,  than  would  under  similar 
circumstances  an  earthly  king  for  the  smallest  and 
poorest  province  of  his  realm?  Would  not  all  his 
powers  be  enlisted  to  put  down  and  extinguish  the 
mutiny,  and  would  not  the  inhabitants,  who  through 
infatuation  alone  could  have  permitted  themselves 
to  be  enticed  to  revolt,  and  to  become  so  unhappily 
caught  in  a  rebellion,  be  chastised,  indeed,  but  the 
penitent  received  into  fiivor  again,  delivered  from 
their  unfortunate  delusion,  and  peace  and  order  be 
restored?  " But  what,"  in  the  language  of  an  illus- 
trious writer,^  "if  this  be  applicable  to  beings  of  a 

higher  nature If,  on  the  one  hand  God  be 

jealous  of  his  honor,  and  on  the  other  there  be  proud 
and  exalted  spirits,  who  scowl  defiance  at  Him  and 
at  his  monarchy ;  —  then  let  the  material  prize  of 
victory  be  insignificant  as  it  may,  it  is  the  victory  in 
itself,  which  upholds  the  impulse  of  the  keen  and 

•  Chalmers,  Astronomical  Discourses,  dis.  6th. 


THE    INCARNATION    OF    GOD.  477 

stimulated  rivalry.  If,  by  the  sagacity  of  one  infernal 
mind,  a  single  planet  has  been  seduced  from  its  alle- 
giance, and  been  brought  under  the  ascendency  of 
him,  who  in  the  Scriptures  is  called  ^  the  god  of  this 
world;'  and  if  the  errand  on  which  the  Redeemer 
came,  was  to  destroy  the  works  of  the  devil ' — then 
let  this  planet  have  all  the  littleness  which  astronomy 
has  assigned  to  it — call  it  what  it  is,  one  of  the  smaller 
islets  which  float  on  the  ocean  of  imm.ensity;  it  has 
become  the  theatre  of  such  a  competition,  as  may 
have  all  the  desires  and  all  the  energies  of  a  divided 
universe  embarked  upon  it.  It  involves  in  it  other 
objects  than  the  single  recovery  of  our  species.  It 
decides  higher  questions — it  stands  linked  with  the 

supremacy  of  God To  an  infidel  ear,  all  this 

may  carry  the  sound  of  something  wild  and  visionary 
along  with  it ;  but  though  only  known  through  the 
medium  of  revelation,  after  it  is  known,  who  can  fail 
to  recognize  its  harmony  with  the  great  lineaments 
of  human  experience  ?  "Wlio  does  not  recognize  in 
these  facts  much  that  goes  to  explain  why  our  planet 
has  taken  so  conspicuous  a  position  in  the  foreground 
of  history?" 

The  foregoing  course  of  reasoning  must  be  recog- 
nized as  in  itself  admissible,  and  astronomy  has  no- 
thing to  say  against  it.  But,  more  than  that,  the 
results  of  this  science  appear  very  well  to  agree  with 
it.  For  the  thorough  difference  between  the  nature 
of  the  fixed  stars  and  that  of  the  bodies  of  our  planet- 
ary system,  and  the  fact  that  amid  the  former  all  the 
vnried  contrasts   and  conditions  which   here  below 

'  1  John  3  :  8. 


478  CONFLICT   AND    HARMONY. 

symbolize  and  attest  the  dominion  of  sin  and  death, 
man's  recreancy  to  his  original  destiny,  and  his  need 
of  redemption,  seem  to  be  in  fact  wanting,  very  much 
favor  the  conclusion,  as  we  have  previously  shown 
(§  8),  that  the  worlds  on  high  are  the  abodes  of  pure 
and  holy  beings,  who  stand  in  no  need  of  redemption 
or  restoration. 

This  apprehension  of  the  matter  also  agrees  very 
well,  at  least  in  one  respect,  Avith  the  teachings  of 
Holy  Writ ;  for  man  is  there  certainly  regarded,  if 
not  the  only  fallen,  at  least  the  only  personal  being 
capable  of  being  redeemed,  and  hence  needing  the 
provisions  of  salvation.  But  just  at  this  point  we 
begin  to  see  how  unsatisfactory  and  one-sided  this 
apology  or  reply  is.  For  the  Scriptures  speak  of  a  du- 
plex fall,  a  fall  in  the  angelic  world  as  well  as  that  one 
in  our  human  world.  True,  the  theatre  of  the  former 
as  well  as  the  latter  was  this  earth ;  but  this  fact  in 
itself  throws  no  new  light  on  the  present  subject;  for 
the  incarnation  upon  the  earth  has  no  saving  power 
with  respect  to  the  first  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  the 
angels,  but  only  to  its  second  inhabitants,  fallen  men. 

But  this  reply  is  discovered  to  be  incomplete  and 
unsatisfactory  in  another  respect.  It  falls  short  of 
the  objection  ;  so  that  its  success  can  at  best  be  called 
only  a  partial,  and  hence  a  doubtful  one.  The  Bib- 
lical doctrine  of  the  Incarnation,  beyond  doubt,  com- 
prehends something  more  and  something  higher  than 
a  mere  restoration  of  the  human  race  to  an  equal 
level  with  those  happy  beings  which  kept  their  first 
estate.  In  it  we  behold,  since  God  remains  man  for- 
ever, the  means  and  pledge  of  man's  exaltation  above 


THE    INCARNATION    OF    GOD.  479 

all  other  creatures;  and  in  the  same  measure  are  we 
confidently  to  expect  the  earth,  which  through  the 
incarnation  has  been  appointed  as  the  ever-enduring 
throne  of  the  most  immediate  divine  presence,  to  be 
exalted  above  all  other  worlds. 

§  16.  Continuation. 

The  unsatisfactory  nature  of  the  reply  furnished 
in  the  foregoing,  accounts  for  the  procedure  of  some 
minds  in  abandoning  altogether  the  view  on  which 
it  is  founded,  and  building  up  in  its  place  a  directly 
antagonistic,  but  not  less  one-sided  theory ;  instead 
of  holding  fast  to  truth  already  obtained,  and  seek- 
ing to  supply  its  deficiencies.  The  earth,  it  is  said, 
has  been  honored  as  the  place  of  the  one  all-glorious 
revelation  of  Deity,  not  through  its  necessities  and 
its  lowliness,  but  on  account  of  its  dignity  and  w^orth. 
Its  nature  and  destiny,  it  is  asserted,  were  from  the 
beo-innins:  hi2:her  and  more  2:lorious  than  the  same 
attributes  of  any  of  the  other  worlds,  and  were  not 
made  so  through  the  accident  that  revolt  from  God 
should  have  begun  its  daring  career  just  upon  it. 
And  further,  that  the  earth  is  not  to  be  advanced  to 
the  glorious  state  of  the  rest  of  the  celestial  worlds, 
but  that,  on  the  other  hand,  all  the  other  worlds  oi' 
the  universe  are  now  involved  in  a  process  of  deve- 
lopment, which  is  to  conduct  them  to  that  state  of 
cosmical  perfection  which  even  now  belongs  to  the 
earth,  in  spite  of  the  catastrophe  of  the  fiill. 

We  may,  in  this  connection,  cite  the  words  of  one 
who  has  penetrated  far  into  the  arcana  of  nature.^ 

^  H.  Steffen's  christl.  EeUgiomphilos.,  vol.  I.,  pp.  204-206.  Bres- 
lau,  1839. 


480  CONFLICT   AND    HARMONY. 

"  The  discoveries  of  modern  astronomy  touching  the 
double  and  nebulous  stars,"  he  says,  "  show  clearly 
that  the  universe,  on  the  whole,  begins  to  assume  a 
historical  character.  It  is  daily  becoming  more  pro- 
bable that  THESE  BODIES  exhibit  actual  grades,  even  to 
the  complete  development  of  our  planetary  system.  It 
were  a  point  gained  for  the  Christian  religion,  no  less 
than  for  speculation,  to  learn  that  our  planetary  sys- 
tem, yea,  this  very  earth  itself,  is  the  centre  of  the 

whole  universe We  may  here  venture  the 

assertion,  that  modern  astronomy  is  fast  approaching 
the  time,  ivhen  our  'planetary  system  shall  he  recognized 
as  the  most  highly  organized  point  in  the  immensity  of 
the  universe  ;  and  that  then  the  time  will  not  be  far 
distant,  when,  in  like  manner,  our  earth  shall  be 
recognized,  not  as  the  apparent,  but  as  the  real  cen- 
tral point  of  the  planetary  system,  spiritually  con- 
sidered, as  is  man,  in  the  whole  organism.  .  .  .  The 
sacred  spot  where  the  Lord  deigned  to  appear,  is 
destined  to  be  regarded  as  the  absolute  centre  of  the 
whole  creation.  And  no  less  are  wild  flights  of  fancy, 
by  ^vhich  souls  are  transported  to  distant  stars,  a 
Sirius  fitted  up  as  the  future  paradise,  while  other 
minds  scrupulously  hold  that  each  of  the  celestial 
worlds  has  a  history  of  its  own,  similar  to  the  history 
of  our  human  world,  destined  to  halt  in  their  upward 
course,  and  return  contented  to  the  earth."  ^ 

'  Hegel  has  expressed  himself  in  a  similar  manner  {Encyclop. 
3d,  I  270) :  "  The  planetary  bodies  are  from  their  marked  co/icr^'^e- 
ness  the  most  perfect  of  the  cosmical  masses.  The  sun  is  customa- 
rily regarded  as  preeminent,  since  the  mind  prefers  the  abstract 
to  the  concrete;  as  likewise,  and  for  the  same  reason,  tJieJixed  stars 


THE    INCARNATION    OF    GOD.  481 

It  must  be  confessed,  we  cannot  adopt  such  an 
apprehension  and  theory  of  the  starry  heavens :  we 
say,  in  all  fairness,  that  whatever  has  been  gathered 
through  the  medium  of  modern  astronomy,  concern- 
ing the  nature  of  the  fixed  stars,  of  however  incom- 
plete, equivocal,  and  unsatisfactory  a  character  it 
may  be,  our  mind  has  received  from  it  the  irresist- 
ible impression  that  we  do  not  behold  in  the  con- 
stitution of  the  remote  regions  of  the  heavens,  lower 
and  undeveloped,  but  higher,  more  noble,  and  purer 
grades  of  cosmical  structure ;  for  a  satisfactory  view 
of  which,  w^e  refer  to  what  is  said  in  §  8.  But  still, 
we  cannot  denominate  such  an  apprehension  of  the 
matter  an  absurd  one,  as  has  sometimes  been  done, 
and  least  of  all,  from  a  purely  astronomicaP  point  of 
view.     For  the  results  of  this  science  are  so  equivo- 

are  assigned  a  higher  claim  to  regard  than  the  bodies  of  the  solar 
system. 

*  From  the  empirical  stand-point  it  must  ever  be  conceded  by 
astronomy,  that  possihlg  the  same  disproportion  between  expecta- 
tion or  fancy  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  naked  reality  on  the  other, 
might  be  discovered  in  the  case  of  the  fixed  stars,  vrere  they 
brought  as  near  us  as  the  moon  is  by  our  telescopes —  the  same 
disproportion  as  exists  between  the  fancied  and  real  state  of  the 
moon's  surface.  How  have  our  poets  and  sublunary  sentiinental- 
ists  praised  the  quiet,  tranquil  moon,  with  its  mild  lustre,  pictur- 
ing it  in  imagination  as  the  most  peaceful  and  blessed  abode  in 
the  universe,  and  longing  to  escape  the  noise  and  din  of  our  ter- 
restrial world  in  leading  the  pure,  angelic  life  to  be  experienced 
in  such  a  happy  region  !  But  how  miserably  barren  and  waste, 
and  wholly  devoid  of  all  that  here  upon  earth  begets,  possesses, 
or  cherishes  life,  does  the  telescope  reveal  it  to  be !  What  a  leap 
from  a  paradise  for  sentimental,  imaginative  and  romantic  lovers, 
to  an  unblest  prison-house  for  the  spirits  of  the  lost,  for  which  the 
moon  has  latterly  been  found  much  better  adapted ! 

41 


482  CONFLICT   AND   HARMONY. 

cal,  that  in  one  aspect  they  seem  to  favor  the  view 
that  our  planetary  system  is  the  most  perfect  of  all 
cosmical  structures;  so  that  both  the  abettors  and 
the  opponents  of  this  theory  may  claim  to  have  the 
support  of  astronomy. 

From  the  aids  of  science  it  has  become  probable, 
that  the  like  of  our  planetary  system  is  nowhere  to 
be  found  in  all  the  known  universe ;  and  we  have 
already  learned  that  the  said  system  presents  thorough 
contrasts  to  the  rest  of  the  stellar  heavens.  Here  we 
have  a  complex  organism,  exhibiting  co-ordination 
and  subordination ;  the  poles  of  the  solar  and  the 
planetary,  of  the  lunar  and  the  terrestrial,  are  here 
separated ;  while  there  co-ordination  only,  and  unity 
of  these  opposing  principles,  bear  peaceful  sway. 
But  this  result  may  be  appropriated  by  either  party 
and  made  to  bear  in  either  direction.  The  one  be- 
holds as  an  evidence  of  the  greatest  perfection,  the 
feet  that  these  poles  are  separated,  and  appeals  to  the 
analogies  of  the  organic  world,  where  the  most  per- 
fect forms  are  distinguished  by  the  sejDaration  of  the 
opposite  poles  (the  sexual,  for  example),  while  the 
most  imperfect  of  all  creatures  are  without  sex,  or 
hermaphrodites ;  and  thus,  perhaps,  sees  in  the  full 
manifestation  of  these  contrasts,  the  most  energetic 
potency  of  life,  the  most  complete  development: 
while  the  other  beholds  in  this  opposition  of  princi- 
ples, only  antagonism,  conflict,  and  discord;  but 
in  their  union,  harmony,  and  fully  developed  life. 
The  former  discovers  in  the  arrangement  of  sub- 
ordination and  co-ordination,  not  merely  a  temporary 
necessity,  but  a  legitimate  and  ever-abiding  law, — 


THE    INCARNATION    OF    GOD.  483 

the  latter  seeks  perfection  perhaps  in  the  co-ordina- 
tion of  creatures  of  the  same  species,  and  recognizes 
in  subordination,  a  lower  and  merely  temporarily 
necessary  arrangement.  And  though  it  be  true  that 
as  we  pass  outward  from  our  system,  w^hich  holds 
pretty  much  a  central  position  in  the  great  system  of 
the  fixed  stars,  the  cosmical  structures  gradually 
assume  a  different  character  as  the  distance  increases 
—  as  though  the  modification  commencing  in  our 
system  were  continued  there  in  a  similar  ratio : — first, 
isolated  stars,  and  then  double  stars,  magically  united, 
and  as  it  would  appear,  indispensable  to  each  other, 
which  form  the  transition  to  those  more  remote 
multiple  stars,  and  exceedingly  rich  astral  groups — 
still,  we  look  in  vain  here  for  decisive  authority  to 
pronounce  upon  the  point  at  issue.  For,  on  the  one 
hand,  that  state  of  isolation  may  be  praised  as  one 
of  a  fulness  which  is  self-satisfying,  which  possesses 
in  itself  all  that  is  to  be  desired,  without  the  neces- 
sit}'  of  depending  on  an  adjacent  body ;  on  the  other 
hand,  it  may  be  deplored  as  a  state  of  loneliness, 
wanting  in  sympathy,  harmony,  and  happiness. 
Again,  w^e  have  first  of  all,  density,  concentration 
of  light,  well-defined  outline,  and  steadfastness  of 
form,  which  ever  become  less  as  distance  increases, 
and  give  place  to  transitive  forms  or  maturing  struc- 
tures :  still  relatively  near  are  stars  and  systems  of 
stars,  w^hich,  like  the  growing  embryo  in  the  womb, 
are  still  surrounded  by  the  sea  of  light  out  of  which 
they  have  been  formed  or  are  now^  being  formed, 
and  at  the  greatest  distance,  immeasurable  depths  of 
light,  in  which  not  even  the  faintest  trace  of  a  com- 


484  CONFLICT   AND   HARMONY. 

plete  or  growing  star  is  to  be  discovered.  Does  not 
tliis,  perhaps,  decisively  determine  the  point  before 
ns  ?  By  no  means ;  for  that  solidity  and  steadfast- 
ness of  form  may,  on  the  one  hand,  be  called  a  rigid 
inaptitude  to  change  or  improvement,  and  evidence 
of  a  lower  stage  of  development,  in  opposition  to  a 
higher  and  more  vigorous  stage,  where  there  is  mo- 
bility and  capacity  for  improvement,  where  the  bodies 
are  ever  taking  on  fresh  forms  of  life  ;  while  on  the 
other  hand,  the  very  same  appearances  may  be  ap- 
pealed to  as  proofs  of  an  ever-increasing  perfection 
from  without  toward  the  centre. 

If  we  compare  the  notion  that  the  earth  also  in  a 
cosmieal  point  of  view,  although  in  appearance  one 
of  the  most  paltry  and  insignificant  worlds  of  the 
universe,  may  still  be  in  idea  and  spiritual  signifi- 
cance, the  proper  and  true  central  sjjot  of  the  whole 
universe, — if  we  compare  this  notion  with  Scripture 
and  the  views  therein  contained,  the  circumstance 
may  be  adduced  in  favor  of  it,  as  has  already  been 
done  by  its^  abettors,  that  the  Scriptures  in  the  pro- 

'  Comp.  11.  Steffens,  in  his  Anthropologie,  I.,  p.  264.  Breslau, 
1822:  "It  must  be  maintained  that  the  Ptolemaic  system,  which 
accords  to  the  earth  a  central  point  in  the  universe,  can  never,  on 
this  very  account,  assume  a  truly  religious  and  Christian  signifi- 
cance, because  it  takes  the  appearance  itself  absolutely."  Again 
he  says,  in  his  christl.  Eeligionsphilos.,  I.,  p.  205  :  "It  is  a  point 
of  great  significance,  that  the  epoch  in  scientific  knowledge  which 
took  its  rise  from  astronomy,  should  have  begun  in  our  compre- 
hending the  earth  in  its  globular  form,  and  as  involved  in  a  com- 
mon whirl  of  movements  with  all  the  rest  of  the  heavenly  bodies, 
instead  of  sustaining  a  position  of  repose  as  a  centre ;  for  the  true 
centre  can  never  (?)  outwardly  appear  as  such.  As  the  human 
consciousness  is  justified  in  ceasing  to  seek  the  significance  of 


THE    INCARNATION    OF    GOD.  485 

vincG  of  their  ethico-religious  representations,  make 
the  same  contrast  between  appearance  and  idea  the 
basis  of  their  views ;  and  consider  the  final  recon- 
ciliation of  this  contrast  as  the  ultimate  end  of  all 
history;  so  that  the  incongruity  in  the  cosmical  is 
merely  a  reflex  image  of  the  incongruity  in  the  spir- 
itual sphere,  and  the  one  serves  to  explain  and  estab- 
lish the  other. 

There  is,  to  a  certain  extent,  solid  ground  in  this 
argument,  which  should  not  be  overlooked.  The 
theologian  cannot,  may  not,  nor  does  he  need  to 
hinder  or  oppose  the  astronomer  in  regarding  the 
earth  as  a  subordinate  member  of  our  planetary  sys- 
tem, and  this  system  itself  as  the  smallest  of  all  cos- 
mical systems,  if  his  scientific  researches  force  him 
to  this  conclusion, —  for  the  astronomer  has  another 
rule  whereby  to  measure  magnitude  and  glory  than 
that  of  the  theologian.  Man  judges  according  to 
the  outward  appearance,  but  God  looketh  on  the 
heart  ;^  and  the  divine,  and  with  him  the  christian, 
whether  he  be  an  astronomer  or  not,  is  bound  as  far 
as  he  is  able,  to  see  things  as  God  sees  them,  which  is 
to  be  done  in  the  light  of  Divine  revelation.  The 
astronomer,  as  such,  sees  things  in  their  outward  rela- 
tions. His  object  rests  with  the  appearance ;  it  is  his 
province  here  to  distinguish  between  truth  and  error, 
illusion  and  reality,  what  is  imaginary  and  what  is 

morality  in  outward  works,  and  in  recognizing  it  only  in  the  sen- 
timents lying  beyond  all  such  outward  manifestation ;    so  the 
centre  of  the  universe  is  to  be  likewise  recognized  not  merely  in 
its  outer  but  in  its  inner  secret,character." 
»  1  Sam.  16  :  7. 
41* 


486  CONFLICT   AND    HARMONY. 

actual  in  the  appearance.  He  has  a  perfect  right, 
from  his  stand-point,  to  assign  the  earth  a  subordinate 
position  in  the  solar  system,  and  the  latter  a  similar 
one  in  respect  to  the  whole  universe.  The  divine  is 
accustomed,  rather,  to  judge  the  outer  by  the  inner, 
the  visible  appearance  by  the  hidden  idea ;  to  look 
for  majesty  in  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  exaltation 
in  lowliness  :  to  him  it  is  said,  "But  whosoever  will 
be  great  among  you,  let  him  be  your  minister."^  And 
he  must,  since  he  is  accustomed  to  the  incongruity 
and  the  contrast  which  here  below  are  everywhere 
presented  by  the  appearance  to  the  idea,  from  the 
outset  be  disposed  to  give  his  assent  to  the  heliocen- 
tric doctrine,  and  the  results  of  astronomy  in  general. 
These  results  cannot,  nor  will  they,  take  him  by  sur- 
prise or  inopportunely;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  will 
but  corroborate  a  truth  which  is  the  soul  of  his  whole 
system  of  knowledge,  and  exhibit  themselves  to  his 
mind  wholly  in  accordance  with  the  analogy  of  faith. 
But  still,  we  can  give  our  assent  to  the  view  taken 
by  jSteffens,  only  on  condition  that  it  undergo  not 
unessential  modifications  and  limitations.  And  in 
the  first  place,  we  are  rigidly  opposed  to  the  notion 
that  a  true  but  unapparent  centrality  now  belonging 
to  the  earth  in  respect  to  the  cosmos,  is  never  to  be 
manifested  and  rendered  perceptible  from  outward 
relations.  We  cannot  but  regard  the  contrast  be- 
tween the  appearance  and  the  idea,  as  having  merely 
a  relative,  but  not  an  absolute  necessity  ;  and  hen-ce, 
as  being  merely  of  a  transient,  but  not  of  a  perma- 
nent character.     From  the  philosophical,  and  still 

>  Matt.  20  :  26. 


THE    INCARNATION    OF    GOD.  487 

more  decidedly  from  the  theological  stand-point,  we 
are  forced  to  regard  an  ultimate  reconciliation  and 
removal  of  these  contrasts,  an  ultimate  triumph  of  the 
appearance  over  the  idea,  as  the  necessary  and  final 
end  of  all  history. 

For  as  in  the  sphere  of  morals  all  christian  effort 
is  directed  to  the  task  of  adequately  represesting  faith 
in  works,  and  the  sentiments  of  the  heart  in  language, 
so  also  in  respect  to  histoiy,  all  the  prophecies  of  the 
Bible  touching  the  future  completion  of  all  things, 
look  to  the  advent  of  the  time  w^hen  everything  that 
is  veiled  or  hidden  shall  be  brought  to  light,  when 
the  outward  condition  shall  conform  t6  the  inward 
reality,  the  deceptive  appearance  or  shadow  give  place 
to  the  inner  substance. 

There  must  dwell  uppermost  hi  the  idea,  a  living 
effort  to  overcome  all  that  is  inadequate,  faulty,  or 
contradictory  in  the  manifestation,  to  assert  its  own 
prerogatives,  and  cast  off  the  shackles  which  have 
been  imposed  upon  it  from  without.  For  otherwise 
the  idea  were  lifeless. 

But  if  the  idea  contain  vital  energies,  and  assert 
its  life  in  the  effort  to  attain  an  adequate  manifesta- 
tion, this  effort  must  ever  be  followed  by  a  progres- 
sive result,  however  slow  or  deeply  hidden  that  result 
may  be ;  and  the  final  issue  must  display  itself  in  the 
complete  triumph  of  the  idea.  For,  otherwise,  we 
should  have  either  a  dualistic  3famcheism,  wiiich 
regards  antagonism  of  principles,  not  as  temporary 
and  accidental  only,  but  eternal  and  necessary,  —  or 
a  pantheistic  world,  where  to  all  eternity  the  existing 
is  supplanted  by  what  is   coming  into   existence; 


488  CONFLICT   AND    HARMONY. 

where  the  idea,  circling  in  severe  and  eternal  labor, 
produces  nothing  but  abortions.  Where  an  eternal 
passing  away  is  opposed  by  a  coming  into  being, 
where  there  is  conflict  without  victory,  and  sin  ap- 
pears as  a  good  in  itself,  a  mightiest  agency  of  de- 
velopment: where  there  is  commencement  without 
consummation,  an  eternal  blossoming  without  any 
fruit,  an  onward  striving  before  which  the  goal  ever 
recedes  ; — truly  nature  were  here  a  Sisyphean  labor, 
in  which  the  soul  of  the  world  is  ever  auxiousl}^  but 
abortively  engaged. 

If,  now,  our  solar  S3^stem,  and  in  it,  our  earth,  be, 
notwithstanding  the  oppositions  of  empirical  science, 
the  culminating  point  of  all  creation,  where  in  the 
past  the  Lord  appeared  in  the  form  of  a  servant,  that 
he  might  come  again  in  the  future  with  great  glory, 
and  raise  the  place  of  his  temporary  humiliation  to 
the  place  of  his  eternal  glory,  manifesting  upon  it 
the  highest  and  most  immediate  evidences  of  the 
Omnipotent  Presence  in  the  sphere  of  the  created, — 
if  this  be  so,  there  must  be  observable  more  or  less 
distinct  traces,  not  only  of  a  capacity  and  basis  for 
this  highest  stage  of  development,  but  also  of  a  de- 
velopment already  begun  and  more  or  less  advanced 
to  that  stage.  If  the  earth  be  indeed  the  most  pre- 
cious germ  of  the  whole  creation,  the  living  rudiment 
of  the  future  blossom  and  fruit,  as  in  the  grain  cast 
into  the  earth,  must  already  be  present  in  it. 

We  admit  the  correctness  of  Steffens  view,  so  far 
as  it  regards  earth  and  man,  the  former  in  a  cosmical 
and  the  latter  in  an  ethico-religious  point  of  view, 
as  having  attained  their  high  significance  in  the  his- 


THE    INCARNATION    OF    GOD. 

tory  of  the  universe,  not  merely  by  accident,  but  from 
having  been  originally  called  thereto  by  a  destiny  in 
harmony  with  their  original  endowments.  But  w^e 
feel  ourselves  called  upon  to  expose  its  falsity  and 
inadequacy,  so  far  as  it  either  denies  or  altogether 
ignores  the  fact  that,  allowing  the  high  distinction 
shown  to  the  nature  and  destiny  of  the  earth  and  of 
man  before  the  nature  and  destiny  of  all  other  worlds 
and  their  inhabitants,  the  latter  must  at  the  same 
time  be  acknowledged,  from  another  point  of  view, 
as  having  a  decided  distinction  shown  them  in  a  cos- 
mical  and  ethical  respect,  the  one  on  the  grounds  of 
astronomical,  and  the  other  on  the  grounds  of  theo- 
logical investigations. 

It  may  be  true,  as  Steffens  and  ITegel  seem  to  have 
intimated  in  the  passages  referred  to,  that  the  pecu- 
liar, manifold,  and  complex  relations  and  connections 
of  our  solar  system,  the  solid,  concrete  forms  of  the 
bodies  belonging  to  it,  and  perhaps  also,  many  other 
peculiarities  existing  in  nature,  the  dissimilarity  of 
which  to  corresponding  conditions  in  the  celestial  or 
stellar  worlds  is  less  conspicuous,  are  to  be  taken  as 
evidences  that  our  system  is  the  only  one  of  its  kind, 
and  unexampled  in  its  dignity  and  destiny.  But  it 
must  be  acknowledged,  on  the  other  hand,  that  to 
all  these  marks  of  distinction,  if  they  be  regarded  as 
such,  there  still  belong  at  present,  defects,  inaptitudes, 
and  incumbrances,  to  which  the  worlds  of  the  fixed 
stars  are  not  subjected.  Solidity  or  firmness  of  ma- 
terial composition,  so  highly  esteemed,  is  counterba- 
lanced or  detracted  from  by  a  hampering  incapacity 
for  change  of  form;  and  concreteness  of  structure 


490  CONFLICT   AND   HAEMONY. 

brings  along  with  it  a  state  of  isolated  loneliness 
without  sympathy.  The  varied  and  rich  connections 
and  relations  of  the  system  condition  those  restless 
and  painful  actings  and  reactings  of  opposites,  the 
despotic  sway  of  the  greater  over  the  less  and  the 
subordinate,  the  imperious  dominion  of  crude  naked 
mass  over  the  powers  of  the  will  and  the. mind ;  the 
disturbing  alternation  of  light  and  darkness,  of  heat 
and  cold,  of  summer  and  winter,  of  blooming  and 
fading,  of  coming  into  being  and  ceasing  to  be.  We 
cannot,  therefore,  ascribe  to  the  earth,  and  to  the  solar 
system  in  general,  an  absolutely  higher  position,  in  the 
present  stage  of  their  development.  We  must  allow 
the  fact,  that  those  glorious  worlds  on  high  still  have 
very  many,  diverse,  and  special  marks  of  high  dis- 
tinction ;  and  grant  that  absolute  sovereignty  in  this 
respect  is  to  be  looked  for,  only  when  in  the  progres- 
sive development  and  final  perfection  of  our  solar 
system,  there  shall  have  been  added,  as  it  were  to  its 
present  prerogatives,  in  full  realization,  the  high 
claims  of  the  celestial  worlds. 

It  has  already  been  seen,  in  the  fourth  chapter 
(comp.  particularly  §  36),  that  with  respect  to  the 
inhabitants  they  contain,  the  same  contrast,  with  a 
corresponding  pre-eminence  or  inferior  condition, 
obtains  between  the  earth  and  the  celestial  worlds: 

But,  apart  from  these  necessary  and  not  unessential 
restrictions,  the  view  of  Steffens  cannot  vanquish  and 
remove  all  doubts  and  difficulties,  which  from  a  cos- 
mico-astronomical  point  of  view,  may  present  them- 
selves against  the  occurrence  of  the  Incarnation  upon 
the  earth.     The  whole  scope  of  the  question  before 


THE     INCARNATION    OF    GOD.  401 

US  is  by  no  means  satisfied  in  showing  how  the 
Earth,  in  respect  to  its  cosmical  and  ethical  position, 
should  have  had,  in  preference  to  all  other  worlds, 
the  nearest  and  the  most  decisive  claims  to  such  a 
pre-eminence,  if  it  were  to  be  possessed  by  any  world 
in  general.  But,  on  the  contrary,  the  real  difficulty 
is  to  show  that  such  a  high  honor  was  destined  for 
the  earth  alone,  and  how  this  should  have  been ;  to 
show  that  the  rest  of  the  worlds  were  either  not 
capable  of,  or  did  not  stand  in  need  of  an  analogous 
incarnation  of  Deity  for  themselves,  and  why  this 
should  have  been  so.  We  are  called  upon  to  clear 
up  the  question,  whether  the  Incarnation  upon  the 
earth  stands  in  any  relation  to  the  life  and  history  of 
spiritual  beings  upon  other  worlds,  and  what  there  is 
of  a  necessary,  essential,  or  decisive  nature,  in  such 
relation  —  a  question  satisfactorily  answered  only 
when  it  is  shown  that  in  the  high  distinction  con- 
ferred upon  the  earth,  the  rest  of  the  worlds  have  in 
no  manner  been  slighted,  overlooked,  or  left  behind. 


§  17.   Continuation. 

In  order  fully  to  acknowledge  the  claims  of  the 
point  last  indicated,  and  give  it  that  consideration  it 
deserves  in  the  construction  of  a  Biblical  theory  of 
the  world,  it  has  been  strenuously  and  vigorously 
attempted  even  of  late,  to  incorporate  into  the  Chris- 
tian theory  of  the  present  time,  an  incarnation  of 
Deity  upon  all  worlds,  corresponding  to  the  incarna- 
tion upon  the  earth,  as  something  in  accordance  with 
the  Bible,  and  as  an  axiom  demanded  alike  by  the 


492  CONFLICT   AND   HARMONY. 

results  of  astronomy  and  the  admitted  principles  of 
a  Christian-tlieistic  speculation.^ 

There  lies  at  the  foundation  of  this  idea  of  an 
incarnation  of  Deity  upon  all  worlds,  another  notion, 
which,  as  early  as  the  middle  ages,  found  many  de- 
fenders ;  and  which,  notwithstanding  its  complete 
overthrow  by  the  Reformers  and  old  Protestant 
divines,  has  again  taken  deep  root  in  the  theology 
of  more  modern  times.^  It  is  this :  there  was  an 
absolute  necessity  supposed  in  the  very  creation  it-, 
self,  and  not  conditioned  through  the  entrance  of  sin, 
that  God  should  become  incarnate,  in  order  that  hu- 
manity might  thereby  be  enabled  to  reach  the  high 
end  for  which  it  w^as  predestinated.  God  had  as- 
sumed human  nature,  it  is  argued,  though  man  had 
never  sinned ;  but  not  in  a  state  of  humiliation,  to 
suffer  and  die  for  humanity ;  rather,  at  once  in  a 
state  of  majesty  and  glory,  in  order  that  through  the 
union  of  the  Divine  and  human  natures  in  the  God- 
man,  he  might  fill  up  the  impassable  chasm  between 
God  and  man,  exalt  the  creature  of  God's  power  to 
be  the  child  and  heir  of  God,  and  the  co-heir  with 

*  Comp.  the  article  by  Dr.  Chr.  H.  Weisse:  Christus  das  Eben- 
hild  des  unsicliiharen  Gottes,  Eine  Frage  an  die  christl.  Thelogie 
unserer  Zeit,  in  the  theol.  Studien  iind  Kritiken,  1844,  IV.  p.  913- 
966. 

2  For  example,  it  is  advocated  by  Liebner,  die  christliche  Dog- 
matic aus  cJiristologischem  Princip. :  Gottingen,  1849  ;  Dorner,  die 
Leh7'e  von  der  Person  Christi,  p.  527  seq :  Stuttgard,  1839  ;  Mar- 
tensen,  christl.  DogmatiJc,  p.  194 :  Kiel,  1850 ;  J.  P.  Lange,  posi- 
tive Dogmatik,  p.  212  seqq.,  &c.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  com- 
bated by  Thomasius  in  der  Zeitschrift  far  Protestantism,  und 
Kirche,  1850  (Januarheft),  and  by  Jul.  Muller  in  der  deuichen 
Zeitschrift  far  christl.  Wissenschaft,  1850,  No.  40-43. 


THE    INCARNATION    OF    GOD.  493 

Christ/  and  make  man  a  partaker  of  the  Divine 
nature,^  so  that  he  might  be  like  God.^ 

If  this  view  be  a  legitimate  one,  it  is  not  difficnlt, 
indeed  we  are  impelled  by  a  necessity  which  we  can 
hardly  escape,  to  extend  it  from  men  to  angels  also, 
and  from  the  earth  to  all  other  habitations  of  created 
beings.  But  a  closer  examination  of  it  will  show 
clearly,  that  it  is  devoid  of  speculative  necessity  no 
less  than  of  support  from  the  Bible. 

The  highest  and  ultimate  end  of  all  histories  and 
developments  in  connection  with  created  life,  is  — 
according  to  the  demands  of  speculation  and  the 
teachings  of  revelation — "  that  God  may  he  all  in  all;'"^ 
that  all  creatures  may,  without  foregoing  their 
freedom,  individuality,  and  independence,  return 
again  and  merge  themselves  in  the  eternal  source  of  all 
life,  from  whence  they  originally  sprung:  that  the  dual- 
ism which  was  constituted  in  the  creation  of  free,  per- 
sonal beings,  and  which  manifests  itself  in  the  inde- 
pendent existence  of  a  free  will,  besides  the  free  will 
of  the  Divine  Being,  may  finally  result  in  a  permanent 
and  undisturbed  unity,  without  the  removal  or  the 
endangering  of  the  subsisting  duality, — that  in  this 
consummation  the  movements  of  all  created  exist- 
ences may  be  brought  to  rest,  the  longings  and 
hopes,  the  aims  and  efforts  of  the  rational  creature, 
be  fully  met,  and  satisfied  in  the  fullest  possession 
and  most  complete  enjoyment ;  that  not  only  the  real 
existence  and  manifestation  of  a  sad  opposition  be- 
tween the  Divine  freedom  and  the  freedom  of  the 

•  Rom.  8  :  17.  ^2  Pet.  1:4.  a  1  John  3  :  2. 

^  tVa  ^  o  ^soj  ta  Tidvta  iv  Tiaotv,  1  Cor.  15  :  28. 

42 


494  CONFLICT   AND    HAEMONY. 

creature,  should  be  overcome,  but  also  the  abstract 
possibility  of  a  revolt  or  lapse  to  such  a  state  of  op- 
position, should  be  for  ever  excluded. 

We  are  bound  to  concede  that  if  there  be  no  other 
means  whereby  the  last  and  highest  destiny  of  all 
created  beings  can  be  reached,  than  an  incarnation 
in  all  worlds  where  spiritual  beings  manifest  their 
freedom,  then  is  the  reception  of  this  axiom  unavoid- 
ably necessary,  from  the  clear  demands  of  the  Chris- 
tian-theistic  faith. 

But  such  a  supposition  is  an  erroneous  one,  and 
hence  its  consequence  cannot  claim  consideration. 

"We  grant  that  all  creatures  are  called,  at  the  end 
of  their  development,  to  return  to  the  eternal  source 
of  life  from  whence  they  originally  sprung ;  so  "  that 
God  may  he  all  in  alV  It  is  clear  that  w^e  cannot  (as 
Pantheists)  regard  this  return  as  a  passing  away,  a 
ceasing  or  an  annihilation  of  the  individuality.  The 
individuality  which  was  constituted  at  the  creation, 
remains  as  such,  even  after  the  return  of  the  creature 
to  the  Deity ;  and  not  till  then,  indeed,  does  it  mani- 
fest its  highest  advancement  and  completeness.  This 
return  can  be  conceived  of,  only  in  the  following 
manner :  God  placed  the  created  individual  in  exist- 
ence, but  without  Himself,  by  a  creative  act  of  his 
will.  But  that  individual  needed  development,  and 
was  endowed  with  powers  of  development.  There 
lay  something  more  and  something  higher  in  the 
creative  idea,  than  was  effected  at  the  time,  by  the 
act  of  creation ;  and  the  latter  deposited  this  merely 
in  the  capacity  of  a  potency,  a  tendency,  and  a  capa- 
bility.    Were  the  created  individual  a  free,  personal, 


THE    INCARNATION    OP    GOD.  495 

spiritual  being,  then  must  it  cause  the  potency  to  be 
unfolded,  and  its  destiny  to  be  reached,  by  means  of 
its  own  freedom.  But,  on  the  other  hand,if  an  exis- 
tence belonging  purely  to  the  sphere  of  nature,  and 
not  endowed  with  freedom,  then  must  it  attain  its 
development  through  the  impulse  of  the  natural  ten- 
dency (instinct)  implanted  in  it.  Here,  however,  the 
influence  of  the  free  being  placed  over  it  and  for  its 
assistance,  might  be  either  advantageous  or  preju- 
dicial to  its  development.  In  the  creation  itself  there 
was  constituted  a  duality  of  the  Creator  and  the 
creature,  which  was  liable,  throligh  the  misuse  of 
freedom  on  the  part  of  the  creature,  to  degenerate 
into  a  complete  and  inwardly  antagonistic  dualism. 

But  had  the  creature,  endowed  with  freedom  as 
w^ell  as  not  so  endowed,  unfolded  itself  w^h oily  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  will  of  God;  then  would  both 
dualism  have  been  for  ever  prevented,  and  the 
duality  for  ever  preserved ;  then  would  the  creature, 
which  at  tlie  creation  w^as  placed  w^ithout  the  Deity, 
have  returned  to  Him  in  its  own  development,  and 
thus  the  Divine  creative  idea  have  been  realized. 
The  commencement  and  the  end,  the  potency  and 
its  evolution,  the  design  and  its  fulfillment,  thus 
unite  in  a  harmonious  and  w^ell-rounded  (einheit- 
lichen)  whole. 

The  duality,  then,  constituted  through  the  creation, 
is  an  abiding  and  never-ending  one.  Whether,  there- 
fore, it  degenerate  into  dualism,  the  creature  oppos- 
ing itself  antagonistically  to  the  Creator;  or  wdiether 
the  creature  return  to  the  Creator,  under  the  sw^ay 
of  a  third  and  a  higher  law  (the  complete  realization 


496  CONFLICT    AND    HARMONY. 

in  itself  of  the  idea  of  the  creation) ;  in  neither  case 
is  there  a  recurrence  of  the  primitive  absolute  unity, 
but  the  duality  remains  in  both  cases  ;  reconciled  and 
united  in  the  one,  separated  and  antagonistically 
opposed  in  the  other. 

Pantheism,  on  the  contrary,  holds  that  the  creature 
(whether  it  take  the  one  or  the  other  direction)  is, 
at  the  end  of  its  development,  absorbed  into  the 
Deity — that  it  ceases  to  be  a  creature  any  longer,  and 
again  becomes  God. 

Theism  cannot,  of  course,  allow  that  the  creature 
becomes  God  in  this  sense,  nor  in  any  sense,  even 
though  the  individuality  be  not  destroyed.  Theism 
cannot  grant  that  man  at  the  end  of  his  normal 
development,  shall  really  become  G-od,  nor  yet  G-od- 
man,  but  merely  divine  man.  For  the  creature  can 
return  to  God  only  in  so  far,  and  only  in  the  manner 
and  the  measure  it  has  proceeded  from  Him.  If  it 
be  purely  a  creature,  the  product  of  his  will  without 
the  impartation  of  his  nature  ;  without  personality, 
without  freedom,  without  spiritual  essence ;  it  can 
merely  return  or  be  conducted  back  to  his  will,  i.  <?., 
be  sustained  and  unfolded  in  accordance  with  the 
Divine  will ;  so  that  at  the  end  of  the  development 
the  unfolded  creature  shall  fully  correspond  to  the 
idea  and  aim  of  the  Divine  creative  will.  But  if  the 
creature  be  a  free,  personal  being,  belonging  not 
only  to  the  sphere  of  nature,  but  aho  to  that  of  spirit; 
if  it  be  the  offspring  of  God,^  the  image  of  God,^  or 
spirit  from  Spirit,  and  hence  have  proceeded  from  the 
Divine  will,  with  the  imijartation  of  the  Divine  na- 

'  Acts  17  :  28.  ^  Qen.  1  :  27. 


THE    INCARNATION    OF    GOD.  497 

tiire — then  it  can  and.  must  (in  respect  to  its  spiritual 
aspect)  return  back  to  the  Divine  Being.  Kor  does 
it  require  for  this  end,  in  case  its  development  be  a 
normal  one,  any  extraordinary  assistance  from  Hea- 
ven. The  physical  chasm  between  the  Divine  Being 
and  the  creature,  is,  indeed,  in  itself,  an  infinite  one ; 
and  God  alone  can  fill  it  up.  But  this  he  did  in  the 
creation  itself,  as  he  then  imbued  the  creature  with 
his  own  being,  and  made  it  to  partake  of  his  own 
nature.  At  least,  he  breathed  into  the  nostrils  of 
man,  His  living  breath  of  life,  and  made  him  after 
his  own  image  and  likeness,  as  the  oflspring  of  God. 
And  something  of  the  same  kind  must  have  occurred 
in  the  creation  of  the  angels  also ;  for  they,  too,  are 
free,  personal,  spiritual  beings. 

The  powers  bestow^ed  upon  the  creature  through 
its  creation,  or  at  least,  in  its  creation,  were  straight- 
way sufiicient,  in  case  they  w^ere  properly  used,  to 
conduct  such  being,  each  one  after  its  own  manner, 
to  the  predetermined  goal. 

True,  the  case  were  different,  if  these  powers  were 
misused :  if  instead  of  a  normal  and  godly  develop- 
ment, aii  abnormal  and  ungodly  course  were  taken ; 
if  the  creature,  w^hich  through  the  creation  was  made 
in  God  and  for  God,  should  rend  itself  away  from 
Him,  and,  taking  its  position  without  God,  antago- 
nistically oppose  itself  to  Him.  A  moral  chasm 
would  then  arise,  which  would  at  once  become  a 
physical  one  also  ;  since  the  bonds  which  bound  the 
divine  being  in  man  with  its  eternal  source,  should 
thus  be  torn  asunder.  Such  a  chasm  were,  both  in 
its  physical  and  moral  aspects,  an  infinite  one,  which 
42  * 


498  CONFLICT   AND   HARMONY. 

the  creature  of  itself  could  never  fill  up  or  pass  over. 
If,  however,  this  chasm  were  to  be  filled  up,  and  the 
fallen  and  rebellious  creature  led  back  to  God,  con- 
ducted to  its  original  destination ;  this  could  not 
possibly  be  effected  otherwise  than  by  intervention 
on  the  part  of  God.  The  fallen  creature  has  no 
power,  in  itself,  to  raise  itself  again  to  God;  hence 
it  becomes  necessary  that  God  must  condescend  to 
its  low  estate,  that  he  may  recover  it  from  destruc- 
tion, that  he  may  renew  and  complete  it,  by  raising 
it  from  the  depths  of  sin  and  misery  to  a  place  before 
his  throne. 

The  ground  of  the  Incarnation  is  to  be  found  here 
and  nowhere  else;  in  the  sin  of  man,  or  rather,  in  the 
decree  of  Divine  grace  to  conduct  man,  despite  his 
sin  and  fall,  to  the  goal  for  which  he  was  destined  at 
the  creation. 

Christian  speculation  is  doubtless  under  the  guid- 
ance of  a  religious  motive,  in  ascribing  to  the  incar- 
nation an  absolute  necessity,  arising  from  the  creation 
itself;  but  this  motive  is  founded  upon  an  erroneous 
supposition.  It  rests  entirely  upon  the  supposition 
that  man,  through  the  incarnation,  is  to  reach  a  higher 
position,  and  attain  to  a  glory  incomparably  greater 
than  he  could  have  obtained  without  redemption, 
and  consequently,  w^ithout  the  entrance  of  sin  also. 
It  must  be  confessed,  that  the  exalted  terms  in  wdiich 
the  Holy  Scriptures  attempt  to  "express  the  future 
great  glory  and  blessedness  of  the  redeemed  of  the 
earth,  may  easily,  but  none  the  less  erroneously  on 
that  account,  be  held  up  in  justification  of  this  sup- 
position. 


THE    INCARNATION    OF     GOD.  499 

It  is,  to  onr  mind,  altogether  inconceivable  from 
the  Christian-theistic  stand-point,  that  man,  had  he 
not  sinned,  and  had  he  been  true  to  his  destiny,  could 
not  have  attained  any  thing  like  the  degree  of  ad- 
vancement, any  thing  like  the  degree  of  glory  and 
blessedness  now  made  possible  to  him  through  his 
sin,  wickedness,  and  rebellion  against  God.  Why, 
thus,  we  should  have  cause  to  rejoice  that  we  had 
become  sinners  and  rebels  against  God;  and  sin 
should  be  made,  by  the  Divine  decree  itself,  the  in- 
dispensable means  of  carrying  out  that  decree  ; — sin 
itself  should  be  the  first  and  greatest  of  .all  blessings ! 

An  Augustine^  indeed,  dared  to  utter  the  bold  lan- 
guage: 0  felix  culpa,  quw  talem  meruitliahereredemp- 
torem!  and  expressions  similarly  bold  are  still  to  be 
found  in  sacred  songs  of  the  present  day.  ^or  would 
we  absolutely  condemn  such  expressions,  coming 
from  the  depths  of  an  humble  and  pious  soul,  any 
thing  but  disposed  to  treat  sin  playfully.  There  is 
a  time  for  all  things,  and  therefore  for  every  thing 
also, an  improper  time  ;  thus  with  paradoxes.  If  the 
Apostle  were  competent  to  call  the  wisdom  of  God 
folly,  while  the  latter  is  indeed  the  fountain  of  all 
wisdom  and  knowledge ;  perhaps  such  an  one  as 
Augustine  might  be  justified  in  calling  sin,  though 
indeed  the  source  of  all  misery,  the  ground  of  the 
saint's  blessedness.  There  are  at  times  profound  and 
genuine  stirrings  of  the  religious  emotions,  in  w^hich 
the  common  expressions  of  every-day  life  appear  too 
cold,  too  inexpressive,  and  too  meagre,  to  exhaust  in 
an  adequate  degree  the  depths  of  feeling  within  the 
soul.     The  mind  then  lays  hold  of  paradoxes,  in 


500  CONFLICT   AND   IIAEMONY. 

order  to  bring  more  vividly  into  view  the  helpless 
inadequacy  of  all  common  forms  of  speech,  on  such 
sacred  and  privileged  occasions. 

This  expression  of  Augustine's  is  a  paradox,  which, 
like  every  paradox,  is  a  one-sided  truth  carried  in  the 
warmth  of  the  feelings  too  far ;  which  designedly 
ignores  all  other  aspects  of  the  truth,  in  order  to 
direct  the  whole  attention  to  this  one ;  which  is  so 
wholly  absorbed  and  affected  by  the  one  view,  that  it 
can  neither  think  nor  speak  of  any  thing  besides  it. 

We  may,  in  certain  moods  of  religious  feeling,  be 
so  overcome  with  what  we  as  sinners  may  attain  to 
through  redemption,  or  with  what  we  should  have 
come  short  of  without  it,  that  for  the  moment  all 
other  interests  seem  to  vanish.  The  unspeakable 
blessedness  derived  from  the  grace  of  God,  upon  the 
occasion  of  our  transgression,  may  so  absorb  all  sense 
and  reason,  that  for  the  time  we  should  forget  entirely 
from  wdience  we  have  fallen  by  sin ;  what  we  have 
lost  thereby,  and  what  we  might  have  attained  to, 
had  sin  never  entered  the  human  family.  But,  should 
we  attempt  to  raise  what  is  only  relatively  true,  to 
the  level  of  a  scientific  principle,  and  continue  what 
is  natural  and  allowable  only  in  certain  frames  of 
religious  feeling  and  emotion,  into  our  ordinary  pro- 
cesses of  reflection,  and  make  it  the  grave  judgment 
of  the  understanding, —  then  what  had  heretofore 
been  half  truth,  would  become  wholly  error ;  then 
would  that  wdiich  arose  from  the  inmost  soul  as  a 
high  hj-mn  of  praise  to  the  grace  of  God,  become  a 
slander  a2:ainst  the  Divine  holiness.  Were  we  in 
calm  reason  to  say :  God  be  praised  that  Adam  fell 


THE    INCARNATION    OF    GOD.  501 

into  sin, —  this  would  be  the  import  of  oiir  words : 
God  be  praised  that  we  are  sinners,  that  we  have 
sinned  —  which  were  simply,  blasphemy. 

There  are  but  two  ways  of  avoiding  such  a  wanton 
impeachment  of  God's  character.  We  must  either 
give  up  the  view,  that  a  higher  and  more  glorious 
state  is  to  be  arrived  at  through  the  medium  of  re- 
demption, than  could  have  been  gained  in  a  sinless 
and  normal  development;  and  acknowledge  that 
Redemption  was  the  only  object  of  tlje  Incarnation, 
so  that  the  decree  of  the  incarnation  stands  or  falls 
with  tlie  decree  of  redemption :  or  we  may  retain 
that  view,  and  then  imagine  that  the  incarnation  was 
conditioned  by  the  creation  itself,  as  the  necessary 
complement  of  the  latter ;  so  that  not  the  incarnation, 
in  itself,  but  merely  its  actual  earthly  character, — 
connection  with  the  low  estate,  the  misery  and  the 
condemnation  of  fallen  human  nature — was  condi- 
tioned by  the  occurrence  of  sin. 

It  is  for  the  Scriptures  to  decide  between  these  two 
modes  of  apprehension,  and  it  requires  but  little  ex- 
amination to  see  that  they  pronounce  in  favor  of  the 
first  one. 

It  is  clear  upon  the  face  of  Holy  "Writ,  that  in  all 
cases,  as  often  and  repeatedly  as  the  subject  of  the 
incarnation  is  treated  of,  sin  alone  is  represented  as 
the  cause,  and  redemption  as  the  object  of  this  mira- 
cle of  Divine  love:  this  must  be  conceded  even  by 
the  abettors  of  the  opinion  we  would  combat.  But 
they  maintain  that  the  Scriptures,  being  concerned 
everywhere  with  the  concrete  reality  of  the  sinful 
state  of  man,  could  have  had  no  occasion  nor  any 


502  CONFLICT   AND   HAKMONY. 

motive  for  telling  us  what  w^oulcl  have  happened,  had 
sin  never  entered  the  world;  and  moreover,  that 
Christian  speculation,  since  it  feels  the  need  of  hav- 
ing its  horizon  extended  in  this  direction,  is  justified 
in  the  attempt,  and  capable  of  completing  the  Bibli- 
cal theory  of  the  world  in  respect  to  this  point,  from 
the  Christian  consciousness, as  begotten  and  fostered 
by  Divine  revelation. 

But  still,  we  cannot  help  viewing  the  matter  in  a 
different  light.  The  question  whether  God  should 
have  become  man,  had  man  never  been  guilty  of  sin, 
is  by  no  means  one  possessed  of  significance  for 
speculation  alone,  and  not  affecting  a  practical  ac- 
quaintance wdth  the  facts  of  salvation.  If  we  be 
compelled  to  answer  this  question  in  the  affirmative, 
the  answer  will  so  significant^  affect  the  doctrine  of 
salvation,  give  it  so  wholly  different  a  substructure, 
and  force  it  to  assume  from  its  foundation  to  its  very 
summit  so  essentially  different  a  coloring,  that  the 
Scriptures,  notwithstanding  their  signally  practical 
tendency,  could  not  well  have  been  wholly  silent 
here.  It  will  not  do  to  reply,  therefore,  that  they 
say  nothing  in  regard  to  this  point,  because  they 
should  have  had  no  motive  for  so  doing.  They  are 
silent  not  because  they  do  not  consider  the  matter 
of  sufficient  importance  to  mention,  but  because 
they  know  nothing  of  an  incarnation  apart  from  sin; 
because  it  was  not  conceived  why  such  a  doctrine 
could  be  broached,  since  it  is  of  itself  so  apparent 
that  the  incarnation  must  be  conditioned  through 
the  existence  of  human  guilt  alone. 

And  our  opponents  appeal,  moreover,  to  the  neces- 


THE    INCARNATION   OF   GOD.  503 

sary  judgment  of  tlie  Christian  consciousness,  that  it 
is  altogether  inconceivable  that  a  higher  and  more 
glorious  portion  awaits  man,  through  the  entrance 
of  sin,  than  could  have  been  acquired  by  means  of  a 
normal  sinless  course  of  development.  "Were  the 
supposition  here  involved  a  correct  one,  its  conse- 
quences also,  as  we  have  before  observed,  would 
have  to  be  admitted.  But  it  requires  but  a  few 
words  to  show  that  it  is  incorrect  and  without  foun- 
dation. 

However  strong  the  language  is,  and  superabound- 
ingthe  terms,  in  which  the  IN^ew  Testament  describes 
the  glory  and  blessedness  of  the  redeemed  in  heaven ; 
still  there  is  nothing  there  said  which  cannot,  yea, 
which  must  not  be  conceived  as  having  been  involved 
in  the  destinies  and  capacities  assigned  to  the  human 
race  in  the  creation  itself  The  glory  of  man's  pri- 
meval state  and  the  glory  of  his  future  state,  are 
related  to  each  other  as  the  germ  to  its  development, 
as  is  destiny  to  its  realization.  There  is  nothing 
absolutely  new  to  be  discovered  in  the  glory  of  the 
redeemed,  nothing  that  we  are  not  to  suppose  was 
already  existing  as  a  germ,  capability,  or  a  beginning, 
in  the  image  of  Grod,  in  which  man  was  created.  It 
was  in  this  image  that  our  right  to  be  children  and 
heirs  of  God  was  involved,'  in  it  man  was  already 
made  a  partaker  of  the  Divine  nature,^  and  in  it  was 
already  instituted  man's  likeness  to  God.^ 

Sin  and  Redemption  are  correlatives.  The  severer 
and  more  dangerous  the  disease,  the  more  vigorous 
and  powerful  must  be  the  remedy.  The  significance 
»  Rom.  8  :  17.  ^2  Pet.  1:4.  ^  i  john  3  :  2. 


504  CONFLICT   AND    HARMONY. 

of  redemption  is  exalted,  just  in  the  degree  that  we 
swell  the  enormity  of  sin  ;  and  conversely,  the  greater 
the  measures  taken  by  God  for  our  redemption  from 
sin,  the  greater  also  must  be  the  depth  and  extent  of 
that  destruction  into  w^hich  we  have  been  cast  by  sin. 
The  Christian  consciousness  strenuously  demands 
that  both  be  placed  at  the  highest  possible  mark ;  it 
beholds  in  the  one  an  infinite,  an  immeasurable,  and 
an  irremediable  destruction  ;  in  the  other  an  infinite, 
an  immeasurable,  and  an  adorable  salvation.  Our 
opponents,  however,  do  violence  and  injury  to  the 
Christian  consciousness,  just  in  that  point  where  it  is 
most  delicately  sensitive,  and  can  least  suffer  its 
intuitions  to  be  called  into  question.  For  in  their 
refusal  to  acknowledge  that  the  incarnation,  as  sucJi, 
was  conditioned  by  sin  ;  and  their  affirmation  that 
merely  a  particular  form  of  its  manifestation  —  its 
lowly  and  humiliating  aspect — was  thus  conditioned, 
they  detract  from  the  enormity  and  weight  of  sin, 
and  from  the  value  of  redemption.  That  God  should 
assume  human  nature,  is  the  one  great  and  infinite 
act  of  condescension  and  self-renunciation  on  the 
part  of  Deity ;  but  this  one  only  adorable  miracle  of 
eternal  love  is  not,  forsooth,  to  stand  in  any  way  con- 
nected with  sin  !  The  incomparably  lesser  act  of 
self-denial  only ;  that  the  man  in  whom  God  should 
otherwise  have  become  incarnate,  assumes  the 
sorrows  of  humanity  and  suffers  mortal  death,  this 
alone  is  to  be  laid  to  the  account  of  sin  !  How  much 
of  the  significance  of  redemption  is  thus  lost,  and 
how  much  less  forbidding  is  the  aspect  of  sin  !  But 
what  is  still  far  worse,  not  at  all  comporting  with  the 


THE    INCARNATION    OF    GOD.  505 

Christiau  consciousness,  and  wholly  uncompatible 
with  the  teachings  of  Sacred  Writ;  redemption  ceases 
to  be  the  free  gift  of  Divine  mercy,  and  resolves  itself 
into  a  necessity  arising  out  of  the  creation  itself.  For 
if  the  creation  demand  for  its  completion  and  for  the 
consummation  of  the  destinies  of  humanity,  an  in- 
carnation of  Deity,  this  must  come  to  pass,  no  more 
if  man  take  an  abnormal,  than  if  he  take  a  normal 
course  of  development.  Thus  sin  is  less  to  be  held 
responsible  for  the  sad  condition  of  man,  since  the 
powers  assigned  to  him  in  the  creation  still  need  re- 
inforcement through  a  future  incarnation  of  God; 
and  it  loses  in  abhorrent  significance  in  opposition  to 
the  great  plan  of  God,  since  the  incarnation  should 
have  taken  place  without  it.  True,  the  Incarnation 
would  thus  still  remain  an  adorable  miracle  of  Divine 
love,  a  decree  of  free  grace  sufficient  to  exhaust  all 
praise — but  not  so  with  Redemption.  The  latter  were 
conditioned  through  the  decree  of  the  incarnation, 
but  not  through  overflowing  Divine  compassion  in 
view  of  sad  and  miserable  estate  of  fallen  humanity. 

It  may  be  considered  as  established,  therefore,  that 
the  incarnation  upon  the  earth  was  conditioned  alone 
through  the  free  grace  of  God,in  view  of  overcoming 
and  eradicating  sin  and  its  consequences ;  and  that 
humanity  would  never  have  required  the  incarnation 
of  Deity,  to  reach  that  high  position  which  now  in- 
deed can  be  reached  only  by  means  of  the  incarna- 
tion, had  sin,  with  its  disturbing  and  destructive 
influences,  never  entered  the  race. 

Having  become  possessed  of  this  result,  we  return 
again  to  the  question  with  which  we  set  out :  <'Is  the 
43 


506  CONFLICT   AND   HARMONY. 

assumption  of  an  Incarnation  of  Deity  in  the  other 
worlds  inhabited  by  reasonable  beings,  necessary  or 
admissible  even  ?  " 

Such  an  assumption  is  not  admissible ;  for  there  is 
no  place  for  it  in  the  Biblical  theory  of  the  world, 
and  it  is  not  demanded  by  the  Christian  conscious- 
ness. At  least,  the  worlds  whose  inhabitants  have 
never  fallen,  stand  in  no  need  of  such  an  extraordi- 
nary aid  ;  since  in  the  creation  itself  there  was  given 
to  all  creatures  the  means  and  capabilities  requisite, 
that  each  one  might  in  its  own  manner  reach  that 
great  and  common  end,  comprehending  all  things  : 
"  that  God  may  he  all  in  alV  The  question  appears  in 
a  difierent  light,  however,  in  connection  with  those 
worlds  where  spiritual  beings  have  experienced  a  fall 
similar  in  some  respects  to  that  of  man  upon  the 
earth.  It  is  not  to  be  simply  and  immediately  repel- 
led in  such  cases,  nor  is  it  any  more  to  be  affirma- 
tively answered,  without  due  consideration.  For  it 
must  first  be  discovered  whether  these  beings,  like 
man,  are  capable  of  salvation. 

Human  science  is  wholly  unable  to  discover  any 
traces  of  the  presence  of  reasonable  beings  upon 
other  worlds,  to  say  nothing  of  the  moral  condition 
of  such  beings.  Hence  it  belongs  altogether  to  Scrip- 
ture to  answer  our  inquiry.  Onl}^  twa kinds  of  spiri- 
tual beings  are  known  to  the  Bible  and  spoken  of  by 
it:  Angels  and  Men.  It  does,  indeed,  acquaint  us 
with  the  fact  that  a  part  of  the  angels  at  least,  fell 
from  their  allegiance  to  God ;  but  we  are  at  the  same 
time  expressly  told  that  they  are  incapable  of  salva- 
tion (Comp.  chap.  4,  §  21).     Hence,  we  must  sum  up 


THE    INCAENATIONOF    GOD.  507 

the  following  as  the  result  of  this  discussion ;  that 
an  incarnation  of  God  can  have  occurred  upon  the 
earth  only,  and  nowhere  else ;  and  that  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  other  worlds  either  do  not  require  a  re- 
demption, and  with  it  an  incarnation  as  the  procur- 
ing cause,  since  they  have  not  been  the  subjects  of  a 
fall,  or  that  they  are  incaijable  of  redemption  if  they 
be  fallen  beings. 

§  18.  Continuation, 

The  design  of  the  incarnation  was  to  conduct  fallen 
man  back  to  communion  with  God,  and  to  advance 
him  to  that  goal  for  which  by  virtue  of  his  being 
made  in  the  image  of  God  he  w^as  destined  and  ren- 
dered capable.     The  ultimate  end  of  redemption^  is 

'  ["The  assumption  of  the  human  by  the  divine  nature,  to  say 
nothing  of  its  primary  consequences,  supersedes  a  multitude  of 
questions  and  speculations  that  might  have  been  entertained  rela- 
tive to  the  station  which  man  may  natively  be  fitted  to  occupy. 
And  it  should  not  escape  notice  that  human  salvation  is,  with 
great  uniformity  of  terms,  spoken  of  by  the  inspired  writers,  as 
a  restoration,  a  recovery ;  it  is  the  bringing  him  back  to  the  dig- 
nity he  had  lost.  No  expressions  are  employed  which  might  seem 
to  indicate  that  an  alteration,  or  extension  of  the  original  plan  of 
the  human  system  had  been  admitted  ;  or  as  if  an  arbitrary  de- 
rangemei)t  of  the  ranks  and  orders  of  the  intelligent  system  had 
been  made,  in  consequence  of  which  the  family  of  Adam  are  to 
be  promoted  over  the  heads  of  others,  to  a  place  higher  than  their 
qualities  should  fairly  warrant. 

Philosophical  theories  of  human  nature  are  in  fault,  on  the  side 
both  of  presumption  and  of  frigid  difndence.  For  too  much  is 
assumed  in  behalf  of  man  in  what  belongs  to  his  actual  condition, 
and  his  unassisted  powers ;  and  far  too  little  in  what  relates  to 
his  original  destination,  to  the  importance  of  his  present  behavior, 
and  to  his  future  lot.     But  the  Scriptures,  in  their  history  of  man, 


508  CONFLICT   AND   HARMONY. 

no  other  and  no  higher  than  that  of  the  creation ;  but 
redemption  demanded  an  incomfarably  higher  species  of 
Divine  ma7iife station,  an  infinitely  greater  self-abne- 
gation on  the  part  of  God,  than  the  creation.  For 
the  creation  had  to  do  with  a  mere  bringing  about ; 
it  originated  a  pure  beginning,  a  capability,  which 
through  its  own  development  was  competent  to  reach 
its  final  goal.  This  beginning  was,  through  the  power 
of  sin,  rent  away  from  the  source  of  its  life ;  the  ca- 
pability was  destroyed,  the  further  development  w^as 
rendered  impossible,  and  the  personality  sunk  into  a 
depth  of  destruction  from  which  no  created  power 
could  retrieve  it.  The  mission  of  redemption  was 
therefore  a  much  greater  and  more  comprehensive 
one ;  it  demanded  not  merely  the  institution  of  a 
new,  but  also  a  negation  of  the  old ;  not  merely  a 
restitution  to  the  lost,  but  also  an  evolution  to  the 
yet  unattained. 

The  question  as  to  how  the  incarnation  of  Christ 
upon  the  earth  is  related  to  the  spiritual  iDhabit- 
ants  of  the  other  worlds,  hence  coincides  with  the 
question  as  to  how  the  creation  of  man  is  related  to 
the  same  beings.     The  incarnation  of  God  no  more 

set  out  from  a  point  more  elevated,  follow  him  through  a  course 
that  descends  to  the  lowest  depths ;  and  again  present  him  as 
emerging,  and  as  setting  out  on  an  upward  path  that  leads  to  an 
immeasurable  height.  .  .  .  The  style  of  the  Bible,  in  this  point, 
prepares  us  to  receive  whatever  it  may  have  to  affirm  concerning 
human  destinies  ;  and  leave  is  given  at  once  to  entertain  the 
greatest  conceptions,  when,  in  the  first  page  of  the  sacred  canon, 
it  is  said,  and  said  with  emphasis,  that  God  a^eated  man  in  his  own 
image ;  in  the  image  of  God  createdhe  man." -Isaac  Taylor,  SaiuV' 
day  Evening,  pp.  316,  317,  330.  —  Tr.] 


THE    INCARNATION    OF    GOD.  509 

involves  the  depreciating,  prejudicing  or  neglecting 
of  the  claims  of  the  other  spiritual  inhabitants  of  the 
universe,  than  did  the  creation  of  man  in  the  image 
of  God.  The  circumstance  that  man,  already  in  the 
creation,  was  destined  for  a  hio;her  goal  than  were 
they,  and  that  despite  the  sin  of  Adam  this  goal  was 
to  be  reached,  by  virtue  of  a  new  and  highest  miracle 
of  Divine  grace,  could  in  nowise  be  of  disadvantage 
to  them. 

But  truly  an  inestimable  advantage  might  it  be. 
A  schism  had  been  introduced  into  the  world  of  the 
other  spiritual  creatures,  through  the  fall  and  revolt 
of  a  part  of  the  angels.  The  harmony  of  the  uni- 
verse had  been  destroyed.  In  order  to  restore  it, 
man  was  created,  yet  falling  himself  also,  was  re- 
deemed, since  he  was  capable  of  redemption. 

The  incarnation  hence  results  to  the  advantage  of 
the  whole  universe.  If  the  view,  of  old  entertained, 
which  regards  man  as  the  microcosm,  i.  e.  as  the 
representation  of  all  creatures,  as  that  product  of  the 
creative  hand  in  which  all  substances  and  potencies, 
all  powers  and  capacities  of  the  body  and  the  soul, 
of  nature  and  the  will,  which  are  scattered  at  large 
and  singly  throughout  the  universe,  are  to  be  found 
in  concentrated  form, — if  this  view  be  correct,  then 
may  it  be  also  true  and  conceivable,  that  God,  in  tak- 
ing immediately  upon  himself  human  nature,  thereby 
mediately  took  upon  himself  also  the  nature  of  all 
other  creatures. 

Speculation,  empirical  science,  and  revelation  (chap, 
4,  §  9),  all  agree  so  clearly  and  decidedly  in  the  view, 
that  man  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  microcosm  of  the 
43* 


510  CONFLICT   AND   HAEMONY. 

terrestrial  world,  that  we  can  dispense  with  all  further 
proof  in  regard  to  this  point.  All  terrestrial  forces 
and  substances,  all  potencies  of  animal  and  vegetable 
life,  are  present  in  man  in  concentrated  and  subli- 
mated form.  An  incarnation  of  God  results,  there- 
fore, to  the  advantage  also  of  all  the  rest  of  earthly 
creatures. 

The  next  inquiry  will  be,  whether  man  also  may 
be  regarded  as  the  microcosm  of  the  universe,  as 
the  representative  of  all  other  and  extra-mundane 
creatures. 

Empirical  science  and  experience,  as  the  matter  at 
present  stands,  can  not  be  acknowledged  as  compe- 
tent arbiters  in  this  question.  It  will  be  readily  con- 
ceded, that  empirical  science  proves  nothing  of  such 
a  position  in  man ;  but  no  less  surely  must  it  be  con- 
ceded, that  there  are  very  mauy  things  both  in  heaven 
and  upon  earth,  of  which  our  present  empirical 
science  neither  knows  nor  is  capable  of  knowing 
anything. 

The  ignorance  of  science,  however,  in  regard  to 
this  point,  is  for  these  reasons  not  decisive :  in  the 
first  place,  because  the  potency  of  the  beginning  {i.  e. 
the  powers  lent  in  the  creation)  has  not  yet  been  un- 
folded ;  but  rather,  disturbed  in  its  normal  evolution, 
as  a  result  of  the  fall,  has  been  perverted  to  abnormal 
revolution ; — and  in  the  second  place,  because  the 
restoration  by  means  of  redemption,  is  not  completed, 
has  not  yet  advanced  to  that  point  where  all  revolution 
is  overcome,  and  the  neglected  evolution  adequately 
i^epresented. 

If  in  general  anything  decisive  is  to  be  gathered 


THE    INCARNATION    OF    GOD.  511 

in  regard  to  this  question,  it  is  clear  that  it  can  he 
from  revelation  alone.  And  there  are  three  points 
which  may  here  come  into  consideration:  the  original 
destiny  of  man,  assigned  to  him  in  the  beginning 
through  the  creation,  hut  disturbed  and  interrupted 
through  the  power  of  sin ; — then  the  potency  and 
fullness  of  the  restoration,  in  the  mean  time,  repre- 
senting itself  in  the  triumph  and  exaltation  of  the 
God-man  ; — and  finally,  the  fulness  of  the  end,  wdiich 
shall  at  length  have  imparted  itself  from  the  exalted 
Son  of  Man  to  all  his  people,  i.  e.  those  who  have 
been  born  of  Him,  and  regenerated  to  a  new  life  and 
a  new  development. 

Let  us  regard  these  three  points  of  christian  reve- 
lation somewhat  more  closely,  in  order  to  see  zohether 
they  offer  us  any  thing  in  answer  to  the  present  ques- 
tion, and  if  so,  what  it  may  be. 

As  to  what  concerns  the  creation,  it  is  clear  from 
the  Bible  itself,  that  the  earth  is  to  be  regarded  as 
the  world  last  created,  and  also  man  as  the  last  of  all 
personal  creatures.  When  man,  the  crown  and  seal 
of  all  earthly  creatures,  had  been  created,  then  had 
God  finished  all  the  works  of  creation ;  then  began 
the  rest  of  God,  w^hich  marked  the  absolute  cessation 
of  all  pure  creative  activit}^  The  earth  and  man, 
through  this  their  position  in  the  scale  of  creation, 
acquired  an  unwonted  and  culminating  significance 
in  the  universe :  here  was  the  goal  and  end  of  all 
Divine  creative  activity,  the  close  and  consummation 
of  the  whole  idea  of  creation. 

Still  more  clearly  does  this  culminating  and  closing 
destiny  and  position  of  man  in  relation  to  the  whole 


512  CONFLICT   AND    HARMONY. 

universe,  stand  forth  to  view,  when  we  recognize  as 
correct,  that  view,  which  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  this 
Avork,  we  have  sought  to  show  as  legitimately  result- 
ing from  the  accounts  of  revelation  contemplated  as 
a  Avhole.  The  view  is  this :  that  the  earth,  being 
transformed  into  a  dreary  chaos  through  the  fall  of 
the  angels,  was  renewed  in  the  six  days'  work,  and 
assigned  to  man  as  his  dwelling-place,  in  order  that 
he  might  do  away  with  the  disharmony  in  the  uni- 
verse, and  restore  all  to  peace  and  order. 

If  we  now  proceed  to  the  consideration  of  the 
Biblical  doctrine  of  the  God-man^  we  shall  here  dis- 
cover more  clearly  the  admissibility  of  such  a  view. 
Christ,  the  God-man,  in  whom  human  nature  re- 
presented itself  in  its  absolute  ideality,  was,  accord- 
ins;  to  the  abundant  declarations  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment,  exalted,  after  the  completion  of  His  work  upon 
earth,  above  all  creatures  in  heaven  and  upon  earth, 
so  that  He  sustains,  preserves,  and  fills  all  things. 
This  exaltation,  however,  refers  not  to  His  divine,  but 
to  His  human  nature :  indeed,  strictly  taken,  exclu- 
sively to  the  latter,  since  his  Godhead  from  its  very 
nature  already  possessed  a  like  exalted  position. 
"He  took  upon  him,"  says  the  Apostle,  Phil.  2  :  7- 
11,  "He  took  upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  was 
made  in  the  likeness  of  men,  and  being  found  in 
fashion  as  a  man,  he  humbled  himself,  and  became 
obedient  unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the  Cross. 
Wherefore  God  also  hath  highly  exalted  him,  and 
given  him  a  name  which  is  above  every  name ;  that 
at  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow,  of 
things  in  heaven,  and  things  in  earth,  and  things 


THE    INCARNATION    OF    GOD.  513 

under  the  earth  ;  and  that  every  tongue  should  con- 
fess that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God 
the  Father."  The  same  Apostle  speaks  still  more 
clearly  in  Eph.  1,  20-23  :  "  God  raised  him  (the  man 
Jesus)  from  the  dead,  and  set  him  at  his  own  right 
hand,  in  heavenly  places ;  far  above  all  principality, 
and  power,  and  might,  and  dominion,  and  every 
name  that  is  named,  not  only  in  this  world,  but  also 
in  that  which  is  to  come :  and  hath  put  all  things 
under  his  feet,  and  gave  him  to  be  head  over  all 
things  to  the  Church  which  is  his  body,  the  fulness  of 
Mm  thatfilleth  all  in  alV  And  in  verse  10  he  says 
that  the  purpose  of  God  consists  in  this:  "that  he 
may  gather  together  in  one  all  things  in  Christ  (the 
God-7nan),  both  wdiich  are  in  heaven,  and  which  are 
on  earth,  even  in  him ;  in  whom  also  we  have  ob- 
tained an  inheritance." 

Here,  now,  the  view  that  man,  according  to  his 
original  destiny,  subsequently  disturbed  by  sin,  but 
happily  to  be  restored  through  redemption,  is  to  be 
regarded  as  the  microcosm,  the  potential  representa- 
tive of  the  macrocosm,  receives  its  express  Biblical 
confirmation.  For,  in  the  first  place,  the  man  Jesus 
here  evidently  appears  as  the  microcosm.  But  what 
holds  good  of  the  man  Jesus,  holds  good  also  of  all 
men  redeemed  by  him,  and  conducted  to  their  proper 
destiny.  For  the  essence  of  redemption,  in  its  posi- 
tive aspect,  consists  in  this :  that  Christ,  as  the  Son 
of  man,  as  the  representative  and  prototype  of  hu- 
manity, as  the  second  Adam,  represented  the  idea  of 
humanity  in  its  full  completeness :  primarily  in  his 
own  person,  in  order  then  as  head  of  the  organism, 


514  CONFLICT   AND   HARMONY. 

a  member  of  which  he  became  through  his  incarna- 
tion, to  draw  us  after  himself,  and  conduct  us  to  a 
like  perfection  (comp.  chap.  4,  §  26) ;  since  we  have 
entered  into  communion  with  his  victorious  life,  in 
like  manner  as  he  became  united  w^ith  our  helpless 
and  sinful  life.  Besides,  the  Church,  which  is  his 
body,  and  of  which  he  is  the  head,  is  here  expressly 
designated  as  the  '-'•  fullness  of  him  wJio  fiUeth  all  in 
all."  He,  the  head,  filleth  all  in  all,  and  the  Church, 
his  body,  is  his  fulness,  with  which,  and  through 
which,  he  filleth  all  in  all. 

'No  less  clearly  and  distinctly  is  this  view  favored 
by  the  Biblical  doctrine  of  the  end  of  the  world.  The 
end  of  the  development  of  our  terrestrial  world,  is, 
according  to  Holy  Writ,  the  end  of  all  world-develop- 
ment: the  judgment  of  man  coincides  with  the  judg- 
ment of  all  creatures,  and  the  destruction,  purifica- 
tion and  renovation  of  the  earth  is  also  connected 
with  the  renovation  of  the  heavens.  JSTow,  the  Scrip- 
tures contain  no  intimation,  nor  do  they  anywhere 
in  the  least  imply,  that  the  entrance  of  this  common 
end  of  the  world,  is  in  any  measure  conditioned  by 
extra-mundane  developments,  unconnected  w^ith  the 
earth :  nay  rather,  they  make  it  wholly  dependent 
upon  terrestrial  developments ;  and  the  consumma- 
tion of  the  celestial  worlds  and  the  inhabitants  of  hea- 
ven is  delayed,  merely  because  one  cannot  be  made 
perfect  without  the  other ;  because  the  consumma- 
tion consists  precisely  in  this,  that  all  things  be 
gathered  together  in  one,  and  God  be  all  in  all,' 
Comp.  chap.  4,  §  24. 

» Ileb.  11  :  40 ;  Eph.  1  :  10 ;  1  Cor.  15  :  28. 


END    OF    THE    WOKLD.  515 

§  19.   The  Catastrophe  of  the  End  of  the  World. 

"We  have  indicated  above  (in  §  1),  as  the  three 
chief  points  in  the  Biblical  theory  of  the  world, 
which  are  menaced  with  abandonment,  as  irreconcil- 
able with  the  results  of  astronomy,  the  following: 
the  Biblical  doctrines  of  the  creation  of  the  world,  of 
the  redemption  of  the  world,  and  of  the  judgment  of 
the  world.  The  two  first  mentioned  points  we  have 
already  sufiiciently  taken  into  consideration;  and 
have  clearly  shown  that  they  may  be  fully  harmo- 
nized with  the  results  of  astronomy.  It  now  remains 
to  dispose  of  the  third  point  in  a  like  satisfactory 
manner. 

According  to  the  teachings  of  sacred  "Writ,  the 
whole  fabric  of  the  world  (not  merely  the  earth,  but 
also  the  heavens  at  the  same  time)  awaits  a  catas- 
trophe by  which  it  is  to  be  changed  and  renewed  (as 
an  old  garment  is  cast  off  and  supplied  by  a  new), 
chap.  4,  §  34,  35. 

We  have  already  seen,  in  chap.  5,  §  5,  that  astron- 
omy, as  far  as  it,  supported  by  the  experience  and 
observation  of  thousands  of  years,  and  sustained  by 
the  most  delicate  calculations,  is  in  a  condition  to 
pronounce  upon  the  stability  of  the  present  cosmical 
order  and  arrangements,  must  give  this  as  its  delib- 
erate judgment:  that  our  solar  system  at  least,  and 
in  all  probability  the  heavens  of  the  fixed  stars,  bears 
the  character  of  the  most  undisturbed  and  immovable 
harmony,  order,  and  stable  adjustment;  since  there 
is  no  power  or  accident  whatever  within  the  know- 
ledge of  this  science,  by  which  the  existing  order 


516  CONFLICT   AND   HARMONY. 

miglit  be  destroyed,  altered,  or  endangered.  'Nay 
rather,  it  clearly  shows  that  all  apparent  disturbances 
which  celestial  bodies  exert  upon  each  other,  are  so 
wdsely  and  nicely  designed  and  adjusted  in  the  com- 
plex web  of  celestial  movements,  that  they,  instead 
of  being  tokens  of  a  probable  or  possible  destruction 
of  this  or  any  other  system,  much  rather  appear  as 
the  presages  and  pledges  of  the  undisturbed  continu- 
ance of  the  existing  order. 

It  would  be  maintained  that  the  Biblical  doctrine 
of  a  future  renovation  of  the  world,  in  connection 
with  a  destruction  of  the  same,  must  give  way  before 
the  astronomical  doctrine  of  the  unshaken  stability 
of  the  present  cosmical  arrangements. 

The  best  reply  to  any  such  assumption  is  given  by 
the  Scriptures  themselves,  and  in  the  very  place  where 
they  teach  most  clearly  and  full}^  of  a  future  destruc- 
tion of  the  world:  in  2  Pet.  3  :  4  seqq.  It  is  there  an- 
swered to  those  who  say  :  "  Where  is  the  promise  of 
his  coming?  for  since  the  fathers  fell  asleep,  all  things 
continue  as  they  were  from  the  beginning  of  the 
creation :" — "  This  they  are  willingly  ignorant  of,  that 
by  the  word  of  God  the  heavens  were  of  old,  and  the 
earth  standing  out  of  the  water  and  in  the  water; 
whereby  the  world  that  then  was,  being  overflowed 
with  water,  perished :  but  the  heavens  and  the  earth, 
which  are  now,  hi/  the  same  word  are  kept  in  storCy 
reserved  unto  fire,"  etc. 

Here  reference  is  made  to  the  analogy  of  a  his- 
torical fact,  which  may  be  regarded  as  in  a  certain 
sense  a  type  or  exponent  of  that  general  and  tremen- 
dous catastrophe  of  the  world  —  to  the  deluge.     In 


END    OF    THE    WORLD.  ,       517 

tlie  relations  between  land  and  sea,  between  the  pro- 
duction and  consumption  of  water,  there  existed  of 
old,  notwithstanding  any  partial  disturbances,  such  a 
fixed,  well-ordered,  and  constant  proportion,  that  no 
antediluvian  philosopher,  even  of  the  most  learned 
and  highly  advanced  order,  could  have  suspected  or 
foreseen  any  tokens  of  the  possibility  or  probability 
of  such  a  universal  and  mighty  catastrophe,  involv- 
ing and  transforming  the  whole  surface  of  the  earth; 
and  yet  the  flood  broke  forth  when  it  was  least  ex- 
pected, and  sources  of  destruction  were  opened  in 
the  fountains  of  the  great  deep  and  from  the  win- 
dows of  heaven,  in  a  manner  surprising  and  appal- 
ling to  all  minds.  "  In  the  six  hundredth  year  of 
IsToah's  life,  in  the  second  month,  in  the  seventeenth 
day  of  the  month,  the  same  day  were  all  the  foun- 
tains of  the  great  deep  broken  up,  and  the  windo^\s 
of  heaven  were  opened,  and  the  rain  was  upon  the 
earth  forty  days  and  forty  nights."^ 

''And  as  the  days  of  N"oah  were,  so  shall  also 
the  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man  be."^  As  formerly, 
from  the  profound  depths  of  the  earth,  never 
pentrated  by  the  inquiring  eye  of  man,  and  from 
the  regions  aloft,  where  the  clouds  are  formed 
according  to  a  law  w^hich  no  human  investigation 
has  yet  discovered,  there  suddenly  broke  out  floods 
of  destruction,  which  in  a  moment  silenced  all  scep- 
tics and  deriders  w^ith  their  appalling  terrors, —  so 
also  there  may  lie  hidden  in  the  heights  and  depths 
of  the  universe,  latent  forces,  which  in  future  may 
leap  forth  at  the  call  of  the  Mighty  Creator  and 

'  Gen.  7  :  11,  12^  2  Matt.  24:37. 

44 


513  CONFLICT   AND    HARMONY. 

Judge  of  tlie  world,  with  an  energy  and  universality 
capable  of  bringing  about  at  once  a  transformation 
and  renovation  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth. 

But  what  is  to  be  the  outward  manifestation  and 
nature  of  this  final  catastrophe,  as  foretold  by  pro- 
phecy? The  Scriptures  say:  "The  heavens  shall 
pass  away  w^ith  a  great  noise,  and  the  elements  shall 
melt  with  fervent  heat ;  the  earth  also  and  the  works 
that  are  therein  shall  be  burned  up.  Nevertheless, 
we,  according  to  his  promise,  look  for  new  heavens 
and  a  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness."^ 

Of  all  the  elements  known  to  us,  none  is  so 
mighty,  so  pervading  and  energetic,  as  fire.  Of  all 
destructive  elements  fire  is  the  most  destructive ;  but 
since  it  destroys  that  which  is  perishable,  and  sepa- 
rates dross  and  impurities  from  the  genuine  and  the 
pure,  it  also  frees  the  imperishable  and  the  noble 
from  the  bonds  of  the  perishable  and  the  ignoble, 
and  places  the  former  in  all  its  purity,  its  excellence 
and  glory,  in  its  true  position.  Hence  fire  has  ever 
been  recognized  not  only  as  the  symbol  of  ruin  and 
destruction ;  but  also,  with  equal  propriety,  as  the 
type  of  the  most  energetic  and  thorough  purification 
and  renovation. 

If,  therefore,  the  final  catastrophe  of  the  world  is 
to  be,  not  merely  a  ruinous  and  destructive,  but  at 
the  same  time,  and  signally,  a  purifying  and  renovat- 
ing process,  it  is  clear  that  of  all  the  means  known 
to  us,  none  better  adapted  to  secure  the  end  in  view 
can  be  imagined,  than  fire. 

But  as  fire  is  the  most  energetic  and  mighty  of  all 

»  2  Pet.  3  :  10-13. 


END    OF    THE    WORLD.  519 

the  elements,  so  also  is  it  the  most  universally  dis- 
seminated :  it  lies  hidden  in  all  bodies,  and  may  be 
called  forth  at  any  moment,  by  mechanical  and  dy- 
namic means.  An  inextinguishable  furnace  of  fire 
glows  within  the  hidden  depths  of  the  earth ;  fiery 
bolts  leap  forth  from  the  clouds  of  the  heavens ;  fire 
is  begotten  by  the  sun  ;  and  those  as  it  were  spiritual 
agencies  of  electricity,  w^hich  in  all  probability  flit 
through  the  regions  of  the  created  everywhere,  seek- 
ing ever  and  in  vain  their  equilibrium,  involve  a 
signal  fulness  and  intensity  of  fire-development. 

Though  it  be  farther  foretold  by  prophecy,  that 
fearful  signs  in  heaven  and  upon  earth  shall  precede 
or  accompany  the  final  catastrophe  ;  that  the  sun  and 
moon  shall  lose  their  light,  the  stars  fall  from  the 
firmament,  and  the  sign  of  the  coming  of  the  Son  of 
man  be  seen  in  the  heights  of  the  heavens;  these 
matters  are  no  more  subjects  for  the  judgment  of 
astronomy,  than  the  final  catastrophe  itself  This 
science  can  furnish  little  or  nothing  in  explanation 
of  such  matters,  or  for  a  physical  understanding  of 
them ;  but  still  less  can  it  presume  upon  the  posses- 
sion of  any  power  to  prove  the  physical  impossibility 
of  such  occurrences. 

That  the  sun  and  moon  may  become  obscured,  is 
matter  of  experience  from  year  to  year :  portentous 
appearances  in  the  heavens,  which  involuntarily  fill 
the  bosom  of  the  beholder  with  painful  or  astounding 
forebodings,  are  by  no  means  unheard  of,  as  is  proven 
in  the  sudden  and  remarkable  advent  of  comets,  from 
time  to  time.  Stars  have  vanished  from  the  heavens 
under  the  eye  of  the  astronomer,  and  our  ISTovember 


520  CONFLICT   AND   HARMONY. 

nights  repeatedly  display  the  scene  of  thousands  of 
small  asteroids  falling  from  the  heavens,  and  the  like. 
We  would  by  no  means  maintain  that  the  obscura- 
tion of  the  sun  and  the  moon,  in  that  great  day  of 
the  future,  is  to  be  nothing  else  than  an  ordinary 
eclipse  of  the  sun  or  moon ;  that  the  sign  of  the  Son 
of  man  is  to  be  identical  with  the  appearance  of  a 
comet,  or  even  that  the  falling  of  the  stars  from  the 
heavens  is  to  be  referred  to  a  mere  shower  of  shoot- 
ing stars ;  nay,  rather,  we  believe  that  those  points 
in  prophecy  denote  something  wholly  different,  some- 
thing heretofore  unseen  and  unheard  of;  but  these 
facts  of  experience  may  certainly  be  taken  as  pre- 
sages or  tokens  of  the  possibility  of  these  appearances 
in  the  heavens,  as  foretold  in  prophecy. 

§  20.    The  Duration  of  the  present  Course  of  the  Earth. 

Our  earth  must  revolve  around  the  sun  18  million 
times,  before  the  sun  itself,  together  with  the  whole 
solar  system,  completes  a  single  revolution  in  that 
wide  sweep  of  movement  in  which  it  is  involved 
wdth  all  the  fixed  stars,  about  that  throne  of  cosmical 
power,  which  lies  in  the  centre  of  the  system  of  the 
Milky- Way.  The  great  year  of  the  universe,  there- 
fore, in  which  the  heavens  complete  one  revolution 
around  the  common  centre,  comprehends,  if  Mddler 
be  correct,  18  millions  of  terrestrial  years  (chap. 
5,  §9.) 

How  tiny  and  insignificant  does  our  earth  here 
appear,  how  meagre  the  idea  and  compass  of  mortal 
time,  as  it  here  sustains,  limits,  and  controls  us ! 
How  short  and  paltry  does  the  period  of  the  exist- 


DURATION    OF    THE    EARTH.  621 

ence  of  the  earth  and  the  human  race  appear,  when 
opposed  to  such  a  rule  of  measurement !  What  are 
six  thousand  in  opposition  to  eighteen  millions  of 
years ! 

The  present  order  of  things  upon  the  earth  has 
existed,  according  to  Scripture,  almost  six  thousand 
years.  How  long  shall  it  yet  continue,  till  the  great 
day  that  shall  close  the  course  of  the  present  world ; 
when  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  upon  the  coming 
of  the  Son  of  man,  shall  be  transformed  and  re- 
newed, in  order  that  a  new  and  ever-enduring  period 
may  be  introduced  ? 

The  Scriptures  distinct^  reply :  "  It  is  not  for  us 
to  know  the  times  or  the  seasons  which  the  Father 
hath  put  in  his  own  power.  Of  that  day  and  that 
hour  knoweth  no  man :  no,  not  the  angels  which  are 
in  heaven."' 

The  Apostles,  and  with  them  pious  believers  of 
all  ages,  have  regarded  the  day  of  the  future  as  near 
at  hand.  It  was  not  objective  prophecy  which  ex- 
pressed itself  in  this  lively  expectation  ;  but  rather, 
the  subjective  state  of  the  devout  and  religious  mind, 
the  sentiment  of  earnest  longing  and  ardent  desire, 
which  was  founded  in  reason  and  fully  justified. 
Centuries  have  since  gone  by,  and  centuries,  3^ea, 
thousands  of  years  may  yet  flow  on,  before  the  sub- 
jective point  of  expectation  shall  coincide  with  the 
objective  point  of  the  falfilment. 

Yet,  though  it  be  'possible  that  still  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  years  should  pass  away,  befoi-e  the  great 
day  of  the  end,  still  it  is  impossible  upon  the  ground 

»  Acts  1:7;  Mark  13  :  32,  33. 
44* 


522  CONFLICT   AND   HARMONY. 

presented  by  Scripture,  to  imagine  its  objective  mani- 
festation so  far  in  the  future,  that  there  should  exist 
a  corresponding  relation  on  the  one  hand,  between 
the  present  course  of  the  earth,  with  the  close  of 
which  also  the  end  of  the  heavens  in  their  present 
constitution  is  to  coincide,  and  the  cosmical  period 
of  revolution  belonging  to  the  heavens  as  a  whole, 
on  the  other.  The  position  of  the  incarnation  of 
Christ  in  the  middle  of  the  age  of  the  w^orld,  the 
ever-increasing  clearness  of  the  signs  of  the  times, 
the  approach  of  the  final  fulfilment  of  the  instituted 
conditions  and  the  harbingers  of  the  time  of  the  con- 
summation—  all  this  forbids  us  most  imperiously  to 
seek  for  the  boundaries  of  the  developments  of  the 
earth,  at  such  a  remote  and  obscure  distance. 

Are  we  therefore  to  understand  that  the  heavens 
are  to  be  changed  as  an  old  garment,  before  they 
have  reached  a  single  year  of  their  existence,  before 
they  have  completed  a  single  revolution  ? 

A  twofold  misunderstanding,  with  the  solution  of 
which  this  question  loses  all  significance,  lies  at  its 
foundation.  Those  six  thousand  years  of  the  Bibli- 
cal chronology,  as  we  have  already  seen,  assuredly 
do  not  refer  to  the  beginning  of  the  whole  universe, 
nor  even  to  the  first  beginning  of  the  earth,  but  to 
the  restitution  and  new-creation  of  the  latter ;  or 
rather,  merely  to  the  creation  of  man,  who  first  ap- 
peared after  this  new-creation.  But  between  the 
primeval  creation  and  this  new  creation  there  lies  an 
undefined  and  indeterminable  period. 

And  this^  further,  is  then  overlooked:  that  the 
future  age  of  the  world,  to  which  the  judgment  ap- 


COSMICAL    CONSUMMATION.  r)23 

pears  as  the  entrance,  cannot  be  one  apart  from  time. 
Time,  which  is  a  necessary  correlative  of  the  crea- 
ture, shall  certainly  not  cease,  but  shall  only  be  ab- 
sorbed into  eternity ;  just  as  the  creature  shall  not 
cease  to  be  the  creature,  but  shall  be  exalted  to  a  par- 
ticipation in  the  fulness  of  the  Divine  glory  (Comp. 
chap.  4,  §  30).  But  if  time  do  not  cease  to  be  time, 
in  the  eternity  of  the  future  age  of  the  world,  cer- 
tainl}^  the  movements  and  revolutions  of  the  worlds, 
which  are  the  media  and  indices  of  time,  shall  also 
not  cease.  The  heavens  shall  certainly  not  be  anni- 
hilated through  the  final  catastrophe,  but  only  be 
renewed,  consummated,  and  rendered  glorious ;  and 
the  less  the  heavens  are  affected  by  that  destruction, 
which  in  the  purifying  fires  of  the  judgment  day 
shall  separate  the  dross  as  hell,  so  much  the  less  also 
shall  they  be  altered  from  their  present  constitution. 

§  21.   The  Cosmical  Consummation, 

Finally,  let  us  cast  a  glance  at  the  cosmical  state  of 
consummation  of  the  future  world. 

Here  at  length  must  the  whole  dignity  and  worth 
of  the  earth,  and  of  its  inhabitants,  men,  have 
arrived  at  full  and  open  manifestation.  All  devas- 
tation and  ruin  brought  upon  the  earth  by  the  two- 
fold catastrophe  of  the  fall  of  angels  and  men,  must 
now  be  overcome,  and  rooted  out ;  and  all  destinies 
attached  to  the  earth  through  the  counsel  of  divine 
wisdom,  both  in  its  original  creation  and  also  in  its 
new-creation  for  man,  have  arrived  at  the  highest 
and  fullest  unfolding  and  manifestation  of  them- 
selves. 


524  CONFLICT   AND   HARMONY. 

As  we  have  previously  been  compelled  to  concede 
cosmical  distinction  to  the  heavenly  worlds  as  the 
dwelling-place  of  the  angels,  over  the  earth  in  its 
present  condition ;  so  also  must  we  expect  that  in 
the  consummated  state  of  our  at  present  so  lowly 
and  imperfect  abode,  it  will  after  its  own  manner, 
have  arrived  at  a  level  with  the  angelic  abodes,  in 
respect  to  those  points  in  wdiich  it  noAV  falls  below 
them,  as  they  manifest  a  superior  development  and 
perfection ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  distin- 
guishing features  which  now,  in  harmony  with  its 
destiny,  belong  to  the  earth  in  contrast  to  the  rest 
of  the  celestial  worlds,  but  still  as  unfolded  germs, 
veiled  in  the  form  of  lowliness,  disturbed  and  per- 
verted through  the  curse  of  sin,  shall  have  appeared 
in  their  complete  fulness  and  perfection. 

Hence  we  expect  that  in  the  cosmical  regions  of 
the  earth  in  the  future,  at  least  an  equally  vigorous 
co-operation  of  the  now  antagonistic  contrasts  shall 
take  place,  with  that  of  now  more  favored  regions : 
that  sin  and  death,  together  with  all  their  shadows 
and  fruits,  shall  be  removed :  that  an  equally  vital 
harmony,  an  equally  close  communion  and  reciprocal 
influence,  equally  intimate  bonds  of  sympathy  and 
love,  shall  be  found  between  the  members  of  our 
solar  system,  now  isolated  and  existing  in  their  indi- 
vidual capacities.  Perhaps  this  shall  take  place  in  a 
similar  manner  to  that  observed  in  the  heavens :  per- 
haps these  worlds,  so  completely  separated,  yet  re- 
lated and  belonging  together,  attuned  to  the  harmony 
of  a  higher  music  of  the  spheres,  shall  celebrate  a 
like  sacred  and  holy  jubilee  of  assembled  celestial 


COSMICAL    CONSUMMATION.  525 

hosts  :  perhaps  also  they  shall  then  stand  in  the  most 
vital  and  immediate  communication  with  each  other 
—  similar  also  in  this  to  the  celestial  worlds  —  per- 
haps then  that  dark,  unilluminated,  and  unillumin- 
ahle  sea  of  ether  belonging  to  our  system,  most 
thoroughly  pervaded  with  light,  shall  also  afford  us 
an  "eternal  sunshine,"  and  the  very  same  sea  of 
ether  which  now"  so  rudely  dissociates  world  from 
world,  then  most  intimately  unite  them,  as  the  light- 
atmosphere  of  the  heavens  of  the  fixed  stars  binds 
together  all  the  worlds  that  float  within  it. 

But  wherein  is  the  greater  glory,  the  pre-eminence 
which  our  earth  in  future  is  to  possess  over  all  other 
worlds,  to  consist  ?  In  this  :  that  redeemed,  glorified 
humanity,  originally  created  in  the  image  of  God, 
and  again  restored  to  that  image,  is  to  dwell  there ; 
that  the  Lord  of  glory,  who  has  taken  upon  himself 
our  nature  to  all  eternity,  shall  there  dwell  among 
his  people,  whom  he  is  not  ashamed  to  call  brethren  ;^ 
that  he  shall  bring  with  himself  upon  the  glorious 
earth,  the  immaculate,  unfading  and  imperishable 
inheritance  of  His  sonship,  of  which  they  shall  be 
co-heirs  with  Him;  that  He  shall  there  establish 
among  them  the  most  glorious  throne  of  His  grace 
and  power,  of  His  glory  and  majesty;  that  He  him- 
self, the  Uncreated  Light,  shall  there  shed  around 
their  souls  the  beams  of  a  sacred  and  holy  light 
which  no  mortal  eye  could  endure. 

As  to  the  conditions  and  changes  that  shall  be 
hereby  produced,  in  the  physical  condition  of  the 
earth  and  the  wide  system  to  which  it  belongs,  and 

»  Heb.  2  :  11. 


526  CONFLICT   AND   HARMONY. 

ill  the  cosmical  position  of  both  to  the  whoie  universe, 
it  here  behooves  us  to  stop  short  in  mute  silence  and 
profound  adoration,  hoping  only  in  the  future  to 
arrive  at  the  beyond  all  measure  glorious  reply  to 
such  a  significant  inquiry. 

We  have  previously  seen  that  the  earth  is  alone  in 
its  manifested  lowliness :  in  like  manner  it  shall  be 
alone,  only  in  an  opposite  sense,  in  its  future  exalta- 
tion. As  man  is  made  a  little  lower  than  the  angels, 
and  still  is  "the  embryo  of  the  highest  of  creatures," 
so  also  is  the  earth  made  below  the  worlds  of  the 
angels,  and  yet  is  it  "  the  most  noble  germ  of  the 
whole  creation:" — as  Judea  is  the  least  and  most 
despised  of  all  lands  upon  the  earth,  and  still  is  the 
glorious  land;'-  as  Bethlehem  was  little  among  the 
thousands  of  Judah,"-^  and  yet  the  Sun  of  Righteous- 
ness there  arose  with  healing  in  his  wings ;  ^  so  also 
is  our  region  the  Judea  of  the  universe,  our  poor 
earth  the  Bethlehem  of  this  holy  land,  small  and 
lowdy,  yet  precious  above  all : — and  as  in  the  pro- 
phetic dream,  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  made  obei- 
sance to  Joseph,  the  least  of  all  his  brethren,  so  also 
in  future  shall  the  same  bow^  down  before  the  earth, 
the  least  of  worlds  in  the  universe. 

Formerly,  when  Jehovah  laid  the  foundations  of 
the  earth,  the  morning  stars,  beholding  with  adoring 
wonder,  sang  together  in  choral  songs  of  praise  ;  and 
as  the  Eternal  Word,  full  of  grace  and  truth,  left  the 
"throne  of  glory  to  clothe  Himself  in  flesh  and  blood, 
then  swelled  in  higher  and  fuller  notes  the  chorus  of 
the  heavenly  host :  Glory  to  God  in  the  liigheM,  and 
»  Dan.  11 :  16-41.  ^  jyii^^  5.2.  0  Mai.  4  :  2. 


COSMICAL    CONSUMMATION.  527 

on  earth  peace,  good  will  toward  men.  In  the  future 
also,  when  the  Son  of  Man  shall  come  again  in  the 
clouds,  surrounded  by  all  the  glory  of  his  eternal 
Godhead,  to  renew  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  and 
consummate  all  things,  then  shall  those  sacred  mes- 
sengers of  His  might  and  goodness,  whose  bosoms 
are  thrilled  with  unspeakable  joy  at  every  new  token 
of  the  spread  of  God's  kingdom  upon  the  earth, ^  be- 
hold with  adoring  wonder  the  development  of  those 
heaven-born  mysteries  they  now  desire  to  look  into, 
and  sing  in  purer  tones  and  loftier  chorus  their  eter- 
nal hallelujahs.^ 

'  Luke  15  :  7.  2  ^^ts  5  :  12,  13. 


THE  END. 


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